D-Day: the Next Greatest Generation is Now

By: Steve Yuhas

On June 6, 1944 World War II entered a new phase with the landing of hundreds of thousands of men using some 5,300 ships and 11,000 planes on the beaches of Normandy.  Operation Overlord was the brainchild of General Dwight Eisenhower and became the landing that would change not only the course of the war, but the course of history as regular men “just doing their jobs” did the most heroic things.

Their heroism earned them the right to be called the greatest generation – a term that came to describe the courage and commitment to sometimes perfect strangers or to best friends.  Whether it was in small groups that fell from the skies behind German lines or a landing craft that washed up on shore only to be greeted by a hail of fire from German positions; the greatest generation was born that day.

Today thousands of men rest in cemeteries set up during the operation and although the exact number of casualties will never be known the estimates are striking.  The United States had 29,000 dead and 106,000 wounded or who were never found; Great Britain and Canada saw combined casualties of at least 28,200 dead and some 67,000 wounded or missing. 

The carnage on the beaches of France that day sixty three years ago when men from all over the world answered the call of liberty to defeat the Nazis was incredible.

So unimaginable were the casualties that even today many people ask how America would have reacted if newsreels were not the rule of the day or if Eisenhower was subjected to the 24 hour a day news cycle.  Some lament, myself included, that generals during the war in Iraq are constantly called by Congress to testify over this matter or that while the war rages on across the globe.  The answer will never be known, but there is a real question about how America would have reacted if the war was televised and politicians reacted to polls instead of the military reality on the ground.

Some thought that the WWII generation, slowly dying due to the battle of time, was the last greatest generation and looking at how their children acted during conflicts that came after who could blame them.  Ironic is that the greatest generation gave birth to one of the most selfish and self-centered generations in our history: baby boomers.  Their children who ultimately became parents themselves and began passing their pessimism about freedom to their children – generations called simply X and Y – are not known for their sacrifice.

For many years Generations X and Y were thought of as a group of people almost as selfish as their parents whose care for their country was limited to demanding benefits from it like financial aid for school and isolationism at home.  Some say that these generations cared more about video games than freedom because of the cynical attempts to forge change in our country by tie dye anything goes people whose biggest sacrifice was protesting a war they disagreed with. 

They’re still around today – using the same anti-war chants with some using the same clothes to do the protest.  Some of these Boomers will never really grow up – they must be a great disappointment for their parents.

We know that groups once written off changed on September 11, 2001 when Islamic extremists declared war against America by using our own aircraft as weapons against us.  Generations X and Y were called that day in September to serve our nation and they answered the call with a resounding response to fight. 

Just as Pearl Harbor rallied our grandparents into service, September 11th was the catalyst that called many in Generations X and Y to serve.  They did not sign up for college money or to see the world – they signed up to serve our country in order to kill or capture those responsible for the attacks that unfolded before our eyes on television and to stop others from following in the footsteps of 19 Muslim men.

Since the war on terrorism began the United States military liberated some fifty million people who lived under the fist of theocracy or dictatorship.  Millions of people braved terrorist threats and voted for democratic governments in Afghanistan and Iraq and precision bombing and careful planning has allowed America to track down the leadership of those who mask themselves before beheading captives of any nation that dares disagree with the goals of creating a worldwide caliphate. 

The previous greatest generation will be little more than a memory in the years to come and many important lessons and stories will die with them.  But, as with the greatest generation, another group has stepped up to continue their work and battle those who would challenge America. 

As we remember the landing on Normandy we should also remember those who stepped up to answer the call to combat the cancer of terrorism and Islam that has spread across the world that kills in the name of Allah and fights in the name of theocracy.

The United States is fighting a war against an enemy that carries no flag and wears no uniform.  Our young men and women are being asked to do the impossible under the most difficult of circumstances because not only is the media covering every unfortunate death as if it was the first – our politicians are working tirelessly to hinder their performance all based upon the polls.

Still, our servicemen and women persevere and are becoming the next greatest generation. 

Don’t take my word for it – read the citations that go with the many medals earned by the heroes of this conflict.  Take notice of how one generation of Americans is doing exactly what our grandparents did before them.  The next greatest generation arrived just in time to get the advice and fortitude of the first greatest generation while they fight a war in which they will surely earn the moniker of the next.

These young people are taking the war that America was thrust into back to the countries from which it came.  Some will say the war on terror is a bumper sticker that means very little, but tell that to the people who lost someone in the Twin Towers or the Pentagon.  Tell that to the people who downed their own plane so that it could not be used as a weapon and tell that to the people fighting an almost invisible enemy in the deserts of Iraq and mountains of Afghanistan.

Surely they would disagree.

Heroes take many forms and whether they come from Normandy or Fallujah; Belgium or Afghanistan – one thing is certain.  With men and women emulating the stories of heroism that our grandparents showed throughout WWII our next greatest generation will ensure that we forever remain the home of the free and a beacon of light in a world full of hate.

Steve Yuhas is a radio talk show host on AM 600 KOGO and may be reached at steve@steveyuhas.com or www.steveyuhas.com