D-Day At 70

 Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: Today is the 70th anniversary of D-Day, the Allied invasion of France that marks the beginning of the end of World War II.

The World War II generation is passing, and with it our collective memory of the sacrifices they made to defeat Hitler, Mussolini, Hirohito and the forces of tyranny. The Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France was a massive undertaking involving 160,000 troops, 13,000 aircraft and 5,000 ships.

It is difficult to imagine the United States engaging in such an operation today. Nine-thousand men were killed or wounded in the initial invasion -- and that was just the beginning.

America still has the most powerful military in the world. Its technological sophistication surpasses anything our leaders of 70 years ago could have imagined. American citizens enjoy more prosperity than ever, and in some ways we are a stronger country than we were then.

But when it comes to having the moral courage to do what needs to be done to triumph against evil, our retreat from the values of the Greatest Generation has been nothing short of breathtaking.

Modern wars profoundly affect the people who fight them. But for most Americans, the outcomes don’t change their everyday lives very much.

World War II was different. In the conflict with Germany and Japan, most Americans understood that, if they lost, they would lose their freedoms and their way of life and perhaps literally their lives.

Here at the beaches where I am staying on the Maryland and Delaware shores, there are the remains of watchtowers from which, during the war, American soldiers peered into the Atlantic Ocean 24 hours a day, searching for German submarines that might try to attack the homeland.

In 1942, eight Nazi saboteurs in U-boats reached the coast of Amagansett in New York and Ponte Vedra in Florida. They were tasked with waging a campaign of terror on American transport hubs, industrial facilities and hydro-electric power plants.

But once they arrived, one of the would-be terrorists turned himself into the FBI. Six of the men were summarily executed, while two others were jailed and then deported.

Under today’s leadership, these thugs would be greeted by ACLU attorneys offering to represent them at trial. Political pundits would wonder whether the United States had done something to invite such hostility.

The Democratic Party of the 1940s understood the requirements of defending liberty. That was the party of Roosevelt, the liberal icon to whom today’s Democratic politicians compare themselves but few seem to understand.

The boys who stormed the beaches at Normandy, even those who were unchurched, knew what they were fighting for: the principles elaborated in our founding documents, including the belief that our liberty comes from God.

FDR knew that as well. He once said that the war, at its core, was a battle between the cross of Jesus Christ and the crooked cross of the Nazis. Could you imagine our current president saying something similar?

But let me end on a positive note. On D-Day, Roosevelt led the nation in a prayer for the thousands of American and Allied men crossing the English Channel. Here are some excerpts:

“Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity. …They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and goodwill among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home. Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom. And for us at home -- fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave men overseas … – help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice. …And, O Lord, give us faith. Give us faith in Thee; faith in our sons; faith in each other; faith in our united crusade. …Thy will be done, Almighty God. Amen.”
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Gary Bauer is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families

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