What They Fought For
Seventy-five years ago, the world was a much darker place. Europe had fallen to the might of Nazi Germany, the United Kingdom was thankful they had the English channel to keep them alive, and the Soviet Union was struggling to keep the Germans from advancing through Russia.
It was a very grim time indeed.
Standing from afar for most of this ideological struggle, the United States was bound by its citizens’ isolationist foundation from getting involved. Americans at the time were simply too concerned with the problems at home to be worried about Europe’s ‘constant fighting.’ But isolationism did not stop American leaders from both helping allies and preparing to enter the war themselves.
Once the Japanese empire attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor, America entered the fight with a passion. Men, young and not-so-young, volunteered for each branch of the military, women stepped up and filled-in manufacturing and industry jobs back at home and children gathered scraps of metal and excess rubber while helping their families construct Victory Gardens. The American economy was kicked into high gear to produce all the necessary equipment, uniforms, and vehicles the United States and her allies needed to take the fight to the Axis powers. For the first time in American history, the entire nation went to war.
The culmination of all this preparation was D-Day. The day the Allies would invade occupied Europe and begin the process of removing the Nazis from power.
D-Day was not solely an American operation. Rather, Operation Overlord (the Battle of Normandy’s code name) was an embodiment of cooperation between nations, as Americans charged the French beaches and dropped into the countryside in unison with British, Canadian, and Free-French troops.
It would be just under a year after D-Day that Europe would again be free.
We often look at D-Day as a grandiose military maneuver that was able to both surprise and overwhelm the Germans, which it did, but 75 years later, we should also look at why so many Allied troops were willing to sacrifice their lives to push back Nazism.
The answer lies in the very military that fought on D-Day. Though American ranks were segregated, that did not stop hundreds of African, Asian (including Japanese), and Native American units from performing exceptionally well in combat. This represented one of the very founding truths of the United States, that all people are created equal.
It was this belief that brought us into the Second World War, led to the Cold War, and continually brings the United States under threat of terrorism. It is because there are so many in this world who despise the idea that humans are inherently equal. Therefore, as we remember the largest and bravest amphibious assault in human history, let us also remember why they did it.