A Thank You to all those who served during D-Day

Good morning, on this June 6th 75 years ago in 1944 the Allied invasion of Normandy, France was already well underway.

It is difficult to put the scale of this invasion into perspective as we have nothing to compare it to today, so I will do my best to break down the invasion.  Early in the morning of June 6th the Allied invasion had started with approximately 15,500 American paratroopers landing behind the beach head to secure key bridges required for the invasion.  One of the largest fleets ever assembled left England consisting of 5,333 ships & landing craft; making it's way across the channel to Normandy, France.  A key part of the invasion was the air assault which consisted of 3,958 Heavy Bombers, 1,234 Medium & Light Bombers & 4,709 Fighters.  Having air superiority paved the way for the invasion & I find it difficult to fathom seeing even a fraction of this many aircraft in the air at once.

The Americans were the first to land at Utah & Omaha Beaches with 57,500 troops at 6:30 am.  This was followed at 7:25 am by the landing of British & Free French forces on Sword Beach.  At 7:35 am the British landed at Gold Beach and at Juno beach Canadian & British troops landed at 7:55 am.  The British, Canadian & other allied troops consisted of 83,115 troops.

What they faced was Hitler's fortress Europe which the NAZIS had been building since taking France in 1940.

These men faced overwhelming odds not only with the man made obstacles constructed on the beaches but they faced a well trained and battle hardened German army of 850,000 men awaiting their arrival.  At the end of June 6th the Allied invasion had secured a foot hold but victory was still not certain.  Sustaining what Historians still estimate was 4,414 deaths on June 6th, 1944, many of these brave men & woman who paid the ultimate sacrifice to secure our freedom.

In such a short article I can't even scratch the surface of everything that happened on D-Day but I hope you take the time to thank a veteran for their service and also share the story of the D-Day invasion with the upcoming generation so that the sacrifice of the men & woman who served during WW II will never be forgotten.

Thank You

References:
Photos credits courtesy of http://historylink101.com
https://www.historyonthenet.com/d-day-statistics
https://www.military-history.org/articles/d-day-timeline.htm
https://theddaystory.com/discover/what-is-d-day/
https://www.history.com/news/d-day-casualties-deaths-allies