A Vow To Our Dead

.This photograph is called Taxis To Hell - and Back - Into The Jaws of Death. It was taken at 7:40AM in the waters facing France on June 6th, 1944 - 80 years ago today:

The photo shows the first American soldiers storming Omaha Beach, in what would become the beginning of the end of World War II. Minutes earlier, the Allied forces had landed on Utah, Juno, Sword, and Gold Beaches, launching the largest seaborne invasion in history.

Low clouds and gun-smoke fill the air as soldiers wade toward the coast, with no cover or defenses except the rifles in their hands. The beach is littered with debris, obstacles, steel beams, and unseen landmines below the sand. Unceasing machine gun fire cuts down many of the young men before they can reach dry land. “When one ranger fell, another would take his place.”

The black mass looming menacingly above the beach is neither a dark cloud nor a monstrous wave, but the rock-solid cliffs of Omaha Beach, topped with German machine guns. The mission was simple. With no defenses, the men were to get in the water, reach the beach without getting killed, and dodge gunfire and landmines and terror and explosions and fire and their mutilated comrades to find the slightest bit of cover at the base of the cliff. Once at the base, they were instructed to climb. Then, once they had painstakingly searched for foothold after foothold and scaled 100-foot cliffs amidst horrifying chaos, they would throw their tired bodies over the top, and try to kill as many close-range Germans as possible until the shooting stopped. Pretty straightforward, right?

My sophomore year of high school, our history teacher began the lesson on Operation Overlord. She spoke of the Allies having the grand idea to run defenseless toward a barrage of unlimited machine gun rounds downpouring from unclimbable cliffs. The whole class of teenagers - all apparently experts in naval warfare, military leadership, and courage - chimed in excitedly about how stupid an idea that was. What were they thinking? How dumb can you be? Yeah, that’ll work!

I was, truthfully, disgusted that none of my classmates had ever heard of D-Day before, and delighted when the teacher informed them of the outcome - which they should have known, given that they were free to be that ignorant and weren’t speaking German.

We won.

Though the D-Day invasion required enormously intensive planning, resources, cooperation, and strategy from high-level military and government leaders, the battles were fought and won on the beaches, by ordinary men demonstrating extraordinary courage and sacrifice.

What we often fail to recognize about history is that the outcome was not certain. Though clear to us now that Hitler killed himself, Europe was liberated, and America swooped in to save the day and restore freedom, it was not clear then. It could have gone either way.

The men of D-Day fought a history-altering battle that decided the future of humanity, steering the world’s ship away from evil and tyranny toward joy and freedom. In one of the most difficult missions ever undertaken, we succeeded, and good prevailed over evil.

It was 40 years ago today, on June 6th, 1984, that President Reagan delivered The Boys of Pointe du Hoc speech. In Normandy, with surviving D-Day soldiers in attendance, Reagan beautifully articulated the significance of their operation and the valor with which the men fought, making it clear that their heroism positively changed the course of world history.

In my opinion, it is one of the most beautiful speeches ever delivered by an American president, and I recommend watching it here. Though much more powerful in full and when delivered verbally, here are some highlights:

“We are here to mark that day in history, when the Allied armies joined in battle to reclaim this continent to liberty. For four long years, much of Europe had been under a terrible shadow. Free nations had fallen, Jews cried out in the camps, millions cried out for liberation. Europe was enslaved and the world prayed for its rescue. Here in Normandy, the rescue began. […] 225 came here. After two days of fighting, only ninety could bear arms. […]

You were young the day you took these cliffs. Some of you were hardly more than boys with the deepest joys of life before you. Yet you risked everything here. Why? Why did you do it?

It was faith and belief. It was loyalty and love. The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead - or, on the next.

You and those others did not doubt your cause, and you were right not to doubt.”

“Particularly today, it is good and fitting to renew our commitment to each other. Let us make a vow to our dead. Let us show them by our actions that we understand what they died for. That our actions say to them the words for which Matthew Ridgway listened ‘I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.’”

Just as the soldier’s took seriously their responsibility, Reagan understood his responsibility of honoring them properly. As the President walked from the podium, Vice President Bush asked: “How could you give a speech like that, in front of those men, and not break down in the middle of it?”

Reagan responded: “Because I am the Commander-in-Chief.”

Right after graduating college, imagine instead of moving to a new city or going on a European vacation wearing white linen shirts, you went to war-torn Europe wearing cameo and toting M1s with all your classmates. That’s what Clemson’s entire class of 1944 did - every single member of the class enlisted to serve in the war.

Estimates list the class of 1944 as having between 300 to 350 members; the number is not exact because most of them left before they actually graduated. 53 of them died in World War II.

There is a statue hidden on Clemson’s campus to commemorate the class of 1944 called And Then There Was War.

It depicts a young man sitting back-to-back with himself. On one side, he is a carefree, joyful student full of hope and laughter. On the other side, he is a weary and beatdown soldier. It reads:

“We were just boys, mere boys, and then there was war and half of us were dead or wounded.”

The quote was uttered during a conversation between a 1944 alumnus and the sculptor, and preceded with the alum asking: “How can I make you understand?”

They were just boys, mere boys when they stormed the beaches of Normandy. They either grew up forever that day or departed to more peaceful beaches. That unique American courage is part of our spirit, our ethos, our history and heritage, and is within each of us.

Let us make a vow to honor their sacrifice. They saved the world for us to now live freely in it. Let us show them by our actions that we understand what they died for. Let us not fail them, and not forsake them.

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