Primo Victoria
The National D-Day Memorial Foundation

GENERATION TO GENERATION

Only through preserving our past can we guarantee a future where the lessons and legacy of D-Day will be remembered

D-Day: It is hard to conceive the epic scope of this decisive battle that foreshadowed the end of Hitler's dream of Nazi domination. Overlord was the largest air, land, and sea operation undertaken before or since June 6, 1944. The landing included over 5,000 ships, 11,000 airplanes, and over 150,000 service men.

After years of meticulous planning and seemingly endless training, for the Allied Forces, it all came down to this: The boat ramp goes down, then jump, swim, run, and crawl to the cliffs. Many of the first young men (most not yet 20 years old) entered the surf carrying eighty pounds of equipment. They faced over 200 yards of beach before reaching the first natural feature offering any protection. Blanketed by small-arms fire and bracketed by artillery, they found themselves in hell.

When it was over, the Allied Forces had suffered nearly 10,000 casualties; more than 4,000 were dead. Yet somehow, due to planning and preparation, and due to the valor, fidelity, and sacrifice of the Allied Forces, Fortress Europe had been breached.

Some people remember.

"A Canadian veteran reflects as he sits on the waters edge at Juno beach in Courseulles-sur-Mer, France on the Normandy coast Sunday June 6, 2004. Canadian veterans were honoured in a ceremony on the 60th Anniversary of D-Day."

Some have forgotten.

The Commonwealth war graves commission

said today that cemetery caretakers and visitors were left "shocked, upset and disgusted" after seeing a British war memorial in France covered with anti-war graffiti.
The memorial at Etaples, near Boulogne on the Channel coast, was daubed in red paint with slogans including "Rosbeefs [British] go home", "Saddam will win and he will make you bleed" and "Dig up your rubbish, it is contaminating our soil".

Some 11,000 British servicemen and women are buried at the cemetery, most of whom died defending France in the first world war.

The vandalism which also included a swastika, was discovered by workers at the site. They alerted the commission's French division, who set to work removing the paint from the memorial, which is visited by hundreds of thousands of people every year.

Two workers spent two days cleaning off the paint and grinding down the stone to remove the shadow of the words left behind.

Peter Francis, of the Commonwealth war graves commission, said vandalism at the thousands of sites looked after by the organisation was rare but this incident was "particularly foul".

"The reaction of the people who found it was shock, upset and disgust, which was our reaction as well. I think that was also the reaction of the local people and the French authorities and the gendarmerie is now watching the site," he said

Keep in mind Decent French Citizens were as outraged as we might be. The ones who might not have been outraged are beneath contempt.

Finally on in A tribute to all who have had to stagger out of the blood foaming surf to die on a foreign shore

Erick Svane has a Youtube Video from Saving Private Ryan called Primo Victoria that says it all.

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Technorati Tag: D-Day ***. Overlord ***Normandy***Etaples***Rosbeefs go home






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