The other day, June 6th, was D-Day. The day our troops and the troops of Canada, England and others invaded Europe to defeat the Nazis.
By the end of the war, 50 million souls were lost. I have often wondered, what if someone had had the courage to remove Hitler before he started the war or in its early stages? It was obvious what he planned to do. He said what he planned in Mein Kampf which was written in 1925. And what if Chamberlain had had the courage to stand up to Hitler rather than engage in appeasement? What if our American First movement had not prevented the U.S. from entering the war earlier to wipe Hitler out before he gathered momentum? I wonder also, are the lessons of WWII applicable now to our foreign policy?
The courage and dedication of those men who hit the beaches of France to their families, our nation and each other was truly heroic by any measure.
They and their millions of brothers and sisters in uniform bought us the blessings of freedom, prosperity and the opportunity to reach for and fulfill our own dreams.
It may be that we, the aging Boomers, the beneficiaries of our fathers' courage and sacrifice, have been the most blessed of any American generation or any in history, for that matter. Those blessings of health, opportunity, prosperity, education, travel, increasing freedom from discrimination, sexual freedom, information accessibility, communication, longevity, and so many more. Things have changed for the better since WWII in so many ways, it is hard to recall where we started and what it was like. Old, slow and bumpy cars. Propeller planes. Bad roads. Party telephone lines. Black and white TVs. Telegraphs. Ice chests. Coal
