D-Day: 'The Great Crusade' of the free

“Soldiers, sailors and airman of the Allied Expeditionary Forces, you are about to embark upon the Great Crusade.”

So spoke the general of all the Allied armed forces, Gen. Dwight David Eisenhower the night before D-Day. This message was printed out and distributed to all the armed forces assembled at that time in the southern ports of England and the scattered air bases that dotted the English countryside, just hours before the invasion began. The miltiary forces could not hear the general themselves because radio silence was paramount to the outcome of the operation, if the allies were to succeed.

Hours before, hundreds of C-47’s and gliders were already airborne with troops from the 101st, 82nd, British Paratroopers, Polish Paratroopers and Free French Paratroopers, who were to be the initial drop of the invasion.  

The invasion had already been canceled once because of bad weather in the English Channel, but the weather forecasters had predicted there would be a small window of opportunity over the European coastline on June 6, 1944, and with thousands of soldiers packed into transport ships, it was either “GO” or postpone the entire operation until the tides were right again and giving away the invasion plans to the Germans.

So the night before on June the 5th all the major planners of the invasion met in a planning room of the Allied Expeditionary Forces and listened to the words of one British weather forecaster, who would determine the fate of the free world.

Once Gen. Eisenhower gave the order to “GO,” the invasion was now out of his hands and in the hands of those who would lead the assault on “Fortress Europa.”

In the early morning hours of June 6, 1944, off the coast of Normandy, France, Allied naval vessels began to bombard the coastline defenses. Over 500 naval ships of all sizes from destroyers to battleships began pounding the beaches for the invasion of more than 110,000 men who were to be the first wave to hit the beaches.

The sounds of the bombardment were so loud, they could be heard all the way up the Thames River, to the House of Commons in London. Waiting just outside the line of warships were over 5,000 support and transport vessels that were the key part of the invasion and all the young men who were to take part in this operation.

It is hard for any of us today to imagine grey cloudy skies and choppy seas filled with Higgins boats circling around the transport ships, waiting to get the signal from the bridge to start in towards the beaches. It is just as hard to imagine those young men whose average age was 22, taking part in an operation so big that future historians could not even fathom the depth of it until the actual figures of men and material were counted up many years later.

I had a godfather who was 17 at the time and was in charge of a Higgins boat during the invasion, and he, like so many young men of that time, was never the same again. For the slaughter on the beaches was tremendous and it is hard for any of us to visualize the carnage that took place that day on the Normandy beaches. Over 2,500 men of the Expeditionary Force were killed outright on the beach and thousands of others were wounded and had to be evacuated. But against the odds, all five beaches were secured — Gold, Juno, Sword, Omaha and Utah.

Those young men and women of yesteryear are all but gone now and soon they will be no longer. But from those individuals who sacrificed so much, a lesson must be learned. Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it, so we must always remember: Freedom isn’t free, and democracy is not just a word, but an inspiration for all.

Jim Garvey is a resident of Kalispell.