Bolling: Remembering D-Day
Eighty years ago, 160,000 Allied troops including 73,000 from the United States, landed in Normandy, beginning the liberation of France which ultimately brought down Nazi Germany and ended WWII: ‘The boys of Pointe du Hoc’: Remembering Ronald Reagan’s D-Day speech.
The cost of the Normandy campaign was high on both sides.
From D-Day through August 21, 1944, the Allies landed more than two million men in northern France, and suffered 226,386 casualties: 72,911 killed/missing in action and 153,475 wounded.
German losses included over 240,000 casualties and 200,000 captured.
Between 13,000 and 20,000 French civilians died, and many more were seriously wounded.
Next week Jean Ann and I will leave for two weeks in France, with a focus on touring the Normandy region and paying our respects to those who fought and died there. It is something I have always wanted to do.
I hope you will take some time to give thanks for those who defended liberty in Normandy and other places around the world during World War II. They truly were our greatest generation.
I hope you will also take a few minutes to watch this moving speech that was delivered by President Ronald Reagan at Normandy on the 40th anniversary of D-Day. (You will find the speech at the bottom of the narrative)
