The scale of D-Day is difficult to comprehend. Landing so many people and machines in one place at one time would have been difficult under any conditions, but doing so under fire something very different.
Thousands of 5,000 ships and landing craft landed more than 150,000 troops on five beaches. Over 18,000 Allied paratroopers were dropped into the invasion area during the dark early hours to provide tactical support for infantry divisions on the beaches.
For the Germans, it must have been extraordinary to see such an incoming swarm with the specific goal of removing you from the ground you held.
Stained glass panels like this one installed 60 years later help remind that each of the people involved was an individual and had an individual story and individual experience. For each, the patch of sky or ground before their eyes was the most important thing in their world at that moment.
Might doesn't always make right, but sometimes might is necessary to preserve what is good. Those involved - especially the fallen and injured and their families - paid the price to turn the tide. We remember that those who came before paved the way for us. We remember that freedom, peace and prosperity are often the exception than the rule.
#normandy #dday