Ensure Their Sacrifice Was Not In Vain

My wife and I recently canceled a “bucket list” trip that has been planned for several years due to the ongoing pandemic and heightened terrorism alert in France.?Paris was the destination of choice for her, the beaches at Normandy for me.

Ever since watching the movie “The Longest Day” as a child in 1962 I have had a yearning to someday visit the beaches at Normandy which were the site of the D-Day invasion on 6 June 1944.?Codenamed?Operation Neptune?it was the largest seaborne invasion in history. The operation began the?liberation of France ?and laid the foundations of the ultimate Allied ?victory over the evil and tyranny of Nazi Germany.

Allied casualties on the first day alone have been documented at least 10,000 with 4,414 confirmed dead.?Many of those are interred at the cemeteries surrounding the beachhead. In addition, to physical casualties many of the participants suffered from debilitating mental anguish called “battle fatigue” know now as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or simply PTSD.

As child I marveled at the airborne assaults by both parachute and gliders and the heroics displayed by many young men not much older than me who willingly sacrificed their own lives so that?others may live in freedom. As I have become older and as a result of service in uniform, I have seen first-hand the horror of armed conflict. I have a much deeper appreciation for the sacrifices that were made on the day when the very future of democracy was at stake. If Operation Overlord failed the Axis of Evil surely would have prevailed.

Since the founding of this nation in 1776 , we have had a total of 2,852,901 plus men and women casualties to include deaths, those wounded in action, and those who are missing – a major toll to pay for the price of freedom we enjoy today. Among those who have died in conflicts of the past there are those today in our midst who suffer from PTSD and other disorders. ?All as a result of our recent “War on Terrorism.”

Along with our freedom we have a debt to those who perished and suffered, and that debt is to ensure that we as citizens in a representative democracy vote on the issues and candidates of our own choosing. Yet many may believe their vote does not really count or matter. ??Recent allegations of “voter fraud,” “voter suppression,” “Jim Crow” etc., have only dissuaded many from going to the polls. ?

?As Thomas Jefferson stated “We do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate.” Through their sacrifice, please vote this fall and remember the fallen who paid the ultimate price for the freedom we enjoy today. Honor them and ensure that their sacrifice was not made in vain.

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