D-Day, 70 Years Later

Omaha Beach, 6 June 1944 (LA Times)

It happened within our parents' lifetimes--and there are voluminous historical records, not to mention an award-winning movie, about it--yet D-Day seems like an impossible event.

The planning and execution on such a vast scale, all without the aid of modern communications, computers, and global positioning satellites, and the willing self-sacrifice of thousands of men who charged up the cliffs of Normandy are the stuff of myth. If our generation were given the same resources and knowledge, we would perish long before we reached the sands of Omaha Beach.

The words of one of the Allied leaders sound archaic in the age of the selfie:

An immense armada of upwards of 4,000 ships, together with several thousand smaller craft, crossed the Channel. Massed airborne landings have been successfully effected behind the enemy lines, and landings on the beaches are proceeding at various points at the present time. The fire of the shore batteries has been largely quelled....

Complete unity prevails throughout the Allied Armies. There is a brotherhood in arms between us and our friends of the United States. There is complete confidence in the supreme commander, General Eisenhower, and his lieutenants, and also in the commander of the Expeditionary Force, General Montgomery. The ardour and spirit of the troops, as I saw myself, embarking in these last few days was splendid to witness.