Today marks the 70th anniversary of the June 6, 1944 D-Day invasion on the beaches of Normandy. It was a key point in the greatest conflagration the world had ever known.
Dwight mentioned that Chester Nez, the last of 29 original Navajo code talkers, died Wednesday, reminding us that the events of World War II are rapidly passing out of living memory.
To mark the day, here’s Edna St. Vincent Millay’s “Poem and Prayer for an Invading Army”, read over NBC the day of the invasion. I’ve always thought it was a fine piece of work. (The text does not appear to be online, and I believe it’s still in copyright.)
And here’s a Pathe newsreel of the invasion (one of many available):
In case you missed it, I put up Ronald Reagan’s speech on the 40th anniversary of D-Day yesterday.