70th Anniversary of D-Day
Today is the 70th anniversary D-Day. It is difficult for us to imagine the importance of the Normandy invasion. This really was the turning point of the war. The planning that went into co-ordinatiing naval, air and land forces was tremendous. It was the greatest land invasion in military history. I should point out that D-Day was not an American invasion, despite what some people think. The Americans had two beaches, the British had two beaches and the Canadians had one beach. As a proud Canadian, I must say that the Canadians at Juno beach did extremely well and they earned the hatred of the German troops (they refused to take Canadian prisoners).
As much as it is about a large scale invasion, it also about the individual soldiers trying to survive the day. At my last church there was a man who landed at Juno. He told me that he was pushed out of the landing craft by the soldiers behind him. The water was extremely deep and he went right to the bottom. Thankfully he had the presence of mind to jump up as soon as he hit bottom. He ended up hopping all the way to shore as bullets shot right by him.
Thank God for all of the troops who served and sacrificed, not just to liberate France but to protect freedom for all of us.
