70th Anniversary of D-Day Normandy Invasion Approaches

One week from this Friday – June 6, 2014 – marks the 70th anniversary of the start of Operation Neptune – the invasion of Normandy, France, by WWII Allied forces and the initial phase of Operation Overlord.

Operation Neptune was the largest seaborne invasion in history, involving more than 156,000 Allied troops including more than 57,000 Americans and combined forces of over 75,000 British and Canadian troops attacking by sea and more than 15,000 Americans and nearly 8,000 British by air.  Despite the large number of casualties suffered by Allied forces, Operation Overlord was a decisive victory, creating a foothold for the invasion of German-occupied Western Europe.

The 70th anniversary is commemorated by a number of special events.  Information on events being held in the UK and along the Normandy coast are available on the UK Ministry of Defense website.  More information is also available on the National D-Day Memorial site, the D-Day Memorial Parade site as well as other sites such as the D-Day 70 Blog and the D-Day 70 UK site.  General D-Day information, including the video below, is available from the US Army D-Day web page.

Please take the opportunity to remember the men who fought, to teach your children, friends and family about this important event in history, and to listen to the stories of WWII veterans who were there before it is too late to hear what they have to say.