It was one of those days when the world changed. June 6, 1944. This week’s Reporter is dated for the 75th anniversary of the beginning of the end of Nazi Germany. Before that date, the word “Normandy” meant green fields, quaint hedgerows, placid beaches and grazing cows, their bells clanking in the still air of Northern France. Ever since it has meant these crosses (right), captured by Reporter Publisher Emeritus Bill Cooke on a trip in 2008. D-Day remains the largest seaborne invasion in the history of the world. On that day 364,700 military personnel—on 6,800 vessels and in 11,590 aircraft—clawed out a foothold in Northern Europe and began the push toward Berlin. At great cost. It’s chilling to think Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower had prepared two speeches to give at the end of the day, one claiming victory, the other claiming sole responsibility for defeat. He got to give the first speech. Our world 75 years later isn’t perfect. But it could have been so much worse.—M.B.
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