Today is/was D-Day, on 6 June 1944. What does D-Day mean to you? To us?

My father-in-law flew two missions that day in his B24. I'll be going with him on July 18th on his Honer Flight to Washington DC. It will be his 94th brith day.

When I really stop to think about it, COL Charles Williams, I think about the bravery required to storm the beach that day. And then the guts, the grit, the determination required to move inland (and up), fighting an enemy that was raining death down from above. Those men deserve our thanks and they deserve to be remembered - at the very least - on every anniversary of D-Day.

D-Day means everything to me in respects of Duty Honor Country. I am embedded to the Sacrafice so many gave to the liberty of Freedom world-wide.
"PRICELESS"

COL Charles Williams, many have already expressed their sentiments which match mine, and I don't think I could express myself any better than what's already been placed on this discussion thread.
However, I also think of my father, LTJG Jack Curlee, who served during WWII. He did not participate in Operation Overlord as he was commissioned in the Navy on 29JUN44, some 23 days after the event. Nonetheless, he went to the Pacific and was aboard USS LST -78 for some 16+ months before returning to the US. He's still alive and kicking at the age of 93!
I just hope that the world remembers enough about this event so that nothing like it will ever happen again.

I had a few D-Day Veterans as friends through AUSA who landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day or D-Day plus one. They all told amazing stories. Unfortunately they are all gone now and in Fiddlers Green. I received my first of seven "combat patches" on D-Day plus 60 years while in Tikrit, Iraq serving under the 1st Infantry Division. The ceremony recalled the bravery of those who bravely went before us and preserved our way of life. I still recall it fondly.

I feel a sense of pride, a lot of Sadness for all the lives lost. The legacy that these brave men and all the supporting folks is just simply overwhelming. I can't imagine what they all went through. The training and mission rehersal couldn't even have came close at all to this day! I am very thankful for all Veterans, Past and Present and honored to stand tall next to them! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIFATDe9dsw

D-Day set the standard by which pretty much any military operation pre or post is compared against.

The size, scale, tactical importance, planning, tonnage of military equipment, number of personnel, train up time, logistics, inter-service/international coordination/cooperation you name it, nothing this immense will (we hope) ever happen again.

The SMs who fought on THE, "Day of Days" and the ensuing battles may have thought they were simply doing the job they were trained for but their courage, conviction and sacrifice as individuals and an entire fighting force is tough to equal.

The mentality of the war was vastly different then what we've seen since as the allies were fighting an evenly matched enemy where the outcomes of battles were not readily predictable.

Thanks to the "Saving Private Ryan", what I see when I reflect on this day is the vision of the scarred beach and rolling, blood soaked tide. It's a haunting vision that only those who endured it can really know what it means. I see the photo of General of the Army Omar Bradley standing on that same desolate beach 25 years later simply reflecting...

My dad and 7 uncles fought in WWII. Two were in the ETO. I was basically raised with WWII veterans relatives and friends of my folks.

What I think about D-Day is simply thousands of young Americans, Canadians and Brits, common men, not professional soldiers left their homes and trained to fight the greatest evil the world had ever known.

On D-Day the landed on beaches covered with obstacles and raked by machine guns and kept on going despite the obstacles and despite the danger... They advanced forward. Common men doing a common soldiers job and doing it uncommonly well.

Many of these young men died and they died far too young.... Just common soldiers.

COL Charles Williams, every major operation had a D Day. Because of the immense size of the invasion forces, the sheer scope of the invasion goals, and the tremendous impact Operation Overlord will,be forever referred to as D Day.
I have studied history with a keen interest in military history since I was about 8 years old. My reading and studying of WWII played a large part in my desire to become a soldier.
My parents were British and the family had several relatives killed during the London bombings. The threat of invasion after Dunkirk was real to my parents families. The rationing system, blackouts, travel restrictions for many years were relaxed because D Day was successful although the cost was incredibly high to the invasion forces.
The invasion flotilla was larger than anything prior or since, years spent shipbuilding, bringing assets to Britain, dispersing and camouflaging the invasion forces, deception operations to cause the Germans to assume the landings would be elsewhere. The weather in early June was problematic but sufficient clearing occurred to launch the invasion on June 6 and the rest is history.

I had the opportunity a few years ago to go to Normandy and the surrounding area. I went to Utah beach, St Mere Eglise, Point du Hoc, a German war cemetery and a few other spots. Of course, the cemetery at Normandy and a walk along the beach, the view from the bluffs etc. It is hard to imagine the courage and sacrifice that played out there and many other spots throughout the war.

The cemetery was immaculate, the grounds impeccable, befitting of the troops that are there.

St Mere Eglise was a town that I really wanted to visit as I had read the story so many times. The love, appreciation and admiration the folks there have for Americans is refreshing.

On D-Day, I try to remember the sacrifice of so many but also recall the appreciation so many have for them. As Churchill once said of the pilots during the Battle of Britain, "Never in the field of human conflict have so many owed so much to so few. I think that quote could apply at Normandy as well.