On a quiet bluff in Normandy, France, thousands of Americans lie in silent rows under white headstones. Eighty years ago, they landed on the beach just below, ready to fight — and ultimately die — to free strangers from the tightening grip of an evil power. Though their lives were taken from them before many of us began ours, their actions live on as a powerful lesson for every generation to follow — if we listen.
The 54,000 soldiers who jumped off those boats on June 6, 1944, believed in something so much bigger than themselves that they set aside all else — background, skin color, education, even the preservation of their own lives — to fight for it.
They believed in freedom. And they knew it could be lost.
Further, they understood that freedom must be protected. They were far from alone; 16.4 million Americans fought in World War II, giving up their lives, their futures, their limbs and their minds for freedom. Millions of families sacrificed their loved ones, their comforts, their lives as they’d known them. In a telling display of dedication to a greater cause, 175 Native American and 1,700 African American service members participated in the Normandy campaign under the flag of a country that still rejected them.
The heroes of D-Day — on the beaches, in the water, in the air and at home — understood that the risk to their imperfect nation far outweighed their differences. Infantrymen, sailors, airmen from all backgrounds fought to pass on a world where freedom was still possible. Not guaranteed, but possible.
The further we get from their sacrifice, the further we get from the truth they exemplified: Freedom is a precious, fragile gift. Decades ago, they succeeded in turning back the tide that threatened to wash it away. Today, it is our responsibility to protect, cherish and care for the freedom they secured with their lives. We cannot allow differences and disunity to erode the fabric of our freedom.
It starts with protecting their memory and, with it, the reminder that our freedom is worthy of our sacrifice. Even Gen. John Pershing, who said that “time will not dim the glory of their deeds,” understood that time inevitably dims our memory. As the first chairman of the American Battle Monuments Commission, Pershing worked to establish memorials that would stand as timeless reminders or, in his own words, “a shrine where future generations of men who love liberty may come to do homage.”
As the son of a career Navy veteran, I grew up visiting these sites. Walking through the sacred ground of these memorials imbued me with the desire to serve my country. As a child during the Cold War, I watched people throw themselves on barbed wire to escape East Berlin and regain freedom. The same freedom that I enjoyed so easily. Because I have seen what happens when freedom falls, I have dedicated my adult life to protecting it.
The service members who risked their lives on D-Day saw a regime marching across Europe in an attempt to wipe out freedom as we know it. Millions of lives were decimated in the Nazi quest to eradicate entire groups of people. America watched them ruthlessly come for the fundamental freedoms of religion, speech, assembly. Those service members had no misgivings about what an unstable right freedom is. They didn’t just believe that it could be lost — they saw it.
As we move further away from the day when the ocean water turned red with the blood of our predecessors, we must continue to tirelessly shine a light on what they did — and what it means for us. Whether that looks like visiting a memorial or reading a book, it is our duty to protect the memory of these service members. The number of surviving WWII veterans continues to dwindle. Soon, the stones will be all we have left. It is our duty to learn from their lives.
D-Day isn’t just an isolated event or a day. Those service members didn’t fight for a beach. Despite differences and disparities, they fought and, in far too many cases, died for freedom — freedom for themselves, for their children and grandchildren, for the generations yet to come.
Their sacrifice is their legacy. Our freedom is our inheritance. Now, it is our turn to carry these values on.
Michael E. Smith of Annandale was appointed as a member of the American Battle Monuments Commission by President Joe Biden in 2021. He served 32 years in the U.S. Navy, finishing his tenure as a rear admiral.
