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June 06, 2014

June 6, 1944 in Normandy: Our Fathers. My Heroes. The Last American Class.

Today of course marks the 70th anniversary of the Allied Forces' invasion of Normandy. Even though June 6, 1944 would be celebrated almost immediately as the end of the war in Europe, much (if not most) of the execution of the plan for the invasion's earliest hours was botched. Improvisation by the first American, British and Canadian soldiers to reach French soil won the day. Before any of at could happen, the men who were the first to arrive on the beaches would experience--and overcome--unexpected horror and carnage that no training could have prepared them for. These were our fathers and grandfathers on those beaches. These are the guys I think about more and more as I get older. We will never equal them in character, grit or resilience. Here is our real American class.

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16th Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, Easy Red Sector, Omaha Beach, June 6, 1944. © Robert Capa.

Posted by JD Hull at June 6, 2014 04:12 PM

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