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On June 6, 1944 the effort to retake Europe began. If you had been on the home front, you would have begun hearing radio reports early in the morning.
A short time later, the order of the day given to soldiers was broadcast to the public.
These reports were followed by more detailed updates and statements by General Eisenhower and other European leaders. As the invasion continues, one report in particular comes from the ground. The recording of George Hicks is remarkable. It is a rarity of its kind in that he is at the location. Listen to his report with the sounds of war as the backdrop which really begin at about 4 minutes in.
The the audio from this event is extremely important because the event itself is important. June 6, 2024 will mark 80 years from that event. It is an event that certainly helped to turn the tide of the Second World War and perhaps human history. The victory of the Allies in that war began to carve out more space for the democratic rule of law and the sphere of liberty it protects. The mutual security of shared interests also begins out of the end of the war to ensure against forceful conquest, aggression, and total war.
The war and its atrocities were horrible, and the defeat of the axis powers marked the defeat of a level of tyranny, murder, and human abuse that we hope to never see again and that we must prevent. There are moments that one can point to and not be able to overstate their importance. D-Day is one of those moments. I owe a great deal to all of those that served that day, and in that war, living and passed.