Cross-posted from Hard Corps Wife.

June 6, 1944. 66 years ago today, the Allied forces stormed the beaches at Normandy and changed the course of World War II.

It was the largest amphibious assault landing of all time. Over 160,000 men stormed the beaches. Many of them were killed before they even reached the shore. We’ll never know the exact number of brave souls lost that day.

Can you imagine what it must have been like? To see those beaches, to know that there was a good chance the forces could fail, to see the death all around you? These men saw all of this, had to be terrified, were watching their brothers-in-arms falling all around them, and kept going anyways. May God always bless those men, because if they hadn’t possessed such valor, bravery, and courage under fire, Hitler’s murderous cult of death would likely never have been stopped.

Those men, those heroes, and their valiant efforts on D-Day saved the world. Remember them today, and especially remember those who fell.