Rejoice...

... because it's America here every day of the year including that one 67 years ago today.

June 6, 1944, 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. General Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which “we will accept nothing less than full victory.” More than 5,000 Ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion, and by day’s end on June 6, the Allies gained a foot- hold in Normandy. The D-Day cost was high -more than 9,000 Allied Soldiers were killed or wounded — but more than 100,000 Soldiers began the march across Europe to defeat Hitler. — US Army.mil

At our blog buddy Harrison's D-Day post, commenter Jack C. offered up the following:

When you stop to think that 5,000 men gave their lives on an operation that took only a few days, and then compare that to the 8,000 men and women who’ve given their lives over the span of a 10 year campaign, it should give you pause as to what sacrifice meant then and now.

I don’t think that any of us who didn’t live WWII can imagine what it would be like to wake up the next morning to hear that thousands had died in a campaign that lasted 3 days. We wake up at the end of the month to hear that 30 people died that month.

We responded:

Jack, you’re right. Our perspective on what constitutes acceptable levels of loss has changed over the years.

Sir Edmund Burke said: “Life is nasty, brutish and short”. Modern technology and medical advancements are betraying that statement but those same advancements also contribute to an aversion to discomfort and the harsh realities of life our forebearers faced on a daily basis.

God bless the men and women of our armed forces who are not so averse as the rest of us.