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Machine guns firing from the slopes. Barbed wires with mines buried underneath. V-shaped
ditches.
These were the three most visible features that stood out at the coastline of Normandy, a coastal
region in Northern France. Sailing towards them were more than 100,000 soldiers in their body armour,
contemplating if they would even land on the beach that would soon be rained with fire and bullets. What
complicated the whole landing operation was none other than the unpredictable tidal waves, so rough
that some of the soldiers even started to develop sea-sickness. On top of that, these brave men and women
would have to dodge the floating mines offshore.
And yet, they got on.
While they inched closer to the beach, they started to hear bullets hitting off the ramp of their
ships. “Now that I'm actually here, I see that my chance of my returning to all of you are quite slim”,
noted 2nd Lt. Jack Lundberg Lead a, U.S. Air Force, from Woods Cross, Utah. Before they even stepped
foot on the beach, with waters as deep as their heads, some of their vessels were engulfed in flames, some
writhed in pain, others were inundated with the icy cold sea water, only to be found floating on the waters,
unconscious. Yet, most of them courageously marched onto the beach, throwing themselves towards the
unseen members of the Wehrmacht, as if the zombie apocalypse had befallen them.
However, the fiercest battle of all took place at Omaha Beach, a codename assigned to a tiny
segment of the otherwise enormous coastline in Normandy region. Most of the soldiers were soaked
in the ocean that was oozing with blood and corpses before they even stepped foot on the beach.
Only a mere 600 Allied soldiers had successfully done so, after hours of amphibious assault and air
bombardment. George Allen, one of the soldiers who fought in this bloody battle, recounted “All I
remember is mayhem--dead bodies floating in the water, busted equipment.” He added: “We lost a lot
of good men that day.”
The significance of their audacity could not be fully appreciated at that moment. Dubbed “D-Day”
by the historians, it was only few months into this battle then only it dawned to people across the world
that D-Day had paved a way for the eventual demise of the Nazi Germany's reign of terror. But if not for
their bravery, the entire world would have been subjugated by the German-speaking overlords.
However, one cannot help but to wonder - what drives these people, who have no premonition of the
outcome of the war, get no assurance for their safety, know not if their heroism would be rewarded, be so
willing to sacrifice their own lives to fight a war that they might not even emerge victorious?
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The love of freedom.
The love of freedom, and to a lesser extent, the love of their countries, drive the Greatest
Generation towards throwing their own bodies on the beach, to an unseen enemy, while facing uncertain
outcomes. It is their devotion to an idea far above and beyond their own comprehension that propelled
them to march on the beach, despite knowing that their chances of survival were slim. It is precisely this
love that never falters, this love that pays the prices would ultimately make undaunted the final sacrifice
for their loved ones, their country, and the freedom to live life as they deem fit, even though they can
choose not to put their lives on the table.
As the Mandarin proverb says, “The success of a single general is built atop of thousands of
withered bones.” Whenever people spoke of Normandy landing, praises were showered unto the main
architect of Operation Overlord - General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Nonetheless, the posterities have
often overlooked the enormous sacrifices made by the Greatest Generation on 6th of June. Without
their undaunting sacrifices, the history we know of today would be very different, and the many former
British colonies including our dear nation might remain under the claws of yet another German-speaking
colonial master.
Upon receiving the Medal of Honour for his heroic actions on Normandy beaches, Walter Ehlers
remarked: “While we braved these then-fortified beaches to beat back Hitler and to liberate Europe,
we fought for much more than that. We fought to preserve what our forefathers had died for to protect
our faith, to preserve our liberty. I pray that the price we paid on this beach will never be mortgaged,
that my grandsons and granddaughters will never face the terror and horror that we faced here. But they
must know that without freedom, there is no life and, that the things most worth living for, may
sometimes demand dying for.”
As enunciated by John Philpot Curran, “The condition upon which God hath given liberty
to man is eternal vigilance.” In an enormous effort to safeguard their freedom, the veterans of D-Day
fought valiantly in doing so. To them, this is the thing that is most worth living for, and it indeed, on this
occasion, demands dying for. As we live our relatively peaceful lives today, may we always remember that
this peace and prosperity come with a hefty price which our forefathers who have no relations to us have
paid for us, on that bloody beach around eighty years ago.
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