The Longest Day - June 6, 1944

This is a bas-relief from the US World War II Memorial depicting D-Day and the Omaha Beach landings. Today is the 70th Anniversary of D-Day and this morning I had the great pleasure of attending the commemorative ceremonies at the the Memorial here in Washington D.C.

While the big ceremonies are being held in Normandy today, we had some stewards of history attend this one. Susan Eisenhower read the D-Day orders given by her grandfather, General Dwight Eisenhower. Elliott Roosevelt III, read the prayer that his great grandfather, Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered by radio to the American people on the evening of June 6, 1944. There were many WWII veterans in attendance, even some who had been on those beaches. Most of them are now in wheelchairs as they would all be at least in their late 80’s and 90’s. There were representatives from all the countries who participated in D Day and each country placed a wreath at the “Wall of Freedom” which has 4043 stars, each star representing 1000 lives lost in WWII. Here are a few more photos of the day.

I have deviated a bit from the At the Movies challenge by choosing my own movies for today. In addition to "The Longest Day," there is also “Saving Private Ryan” and the wonderful HBO mini-series: “Band of Brothers.”