Lessons From D-Day – Do We Really Remember?
On this year’s 80th anniversary of D-Day, it must be hard for those under the age of 65 to imagine the horror, the carnage, the courage, the heroism of all those who took part in the invasion of Normandy. I have an appreciation only because my childhood was not far removed from those years; the lessons of WWII were still raw and on the minds of many. For my children, I don’t imagine how it can still be so.
Peggy Noonan, editorialist for the Wall Street Journal and former Ronald Reagan White House speech writer, reflected on the date of June 6th last week. Remembering President Reagan’s 40th Anniversary speech at Normandy forty years ago, she harkened how different Biden’s speech was from Reagan’s.
Something is being lost here, and it’s not good. History is being forgotten; isolationism is regaining a foothold in the U.S., and appeasement is being practiced rather than deterrence. Reagan knew a strong military was the ultimate deterrent to reckless acts by others. Diplomacy, backed by a big stick, is always persuasive. Teddy Roosevelt style. It’s schoolyard justice; you have to be prepared to fight. Today, I’m not sure our politicians have the stomach for it.
Look, I’m not for war. I hate it. I was part of the generation that grew up ducking under desks at school to practice for an atomic bomb attack, that witnessed the drama of the bay of pigs and the Kennedy/Khruschev showdown and wondered if we would wake up the next morning at war, who had cousins, classmates, and friends fighting in Viet Nam. I was one of those who went to bed in 1970, ’71 and ’72 wondering if I would draw a draft lottery number that would send me there. I remember the palpable tension at school the day those numbers were drawn.
The only people who like war are those with a lot to gain from it: bankers, financiers, megalomaniac dictators, powermongers. The former profit from it while the latter just take what they want, and any nation’s refusal to acquiesce inevitably brings a show or an act of force. To them, war is just another tool in the arsenal, a means to an end for domination, for extending power. Appeasement to these people only means they get something for free. It encourages them, it doesn’t stop them. It tells them their opponents are weak. Giving a bully something only means he will demand more. Hitler is the classic example of the futility of appeasement.
Like all things we would rather forget because they are so unimaginably horrible, this day needs to be remembered for exactly that reason. While we should do everything possible to avoid days like this, we also need to steel ourselves with the resolve to prepare against those who cannot be convinced, who will not reason, whose only deterrent will be our mighty military capabilities. Our last few Presidents have not followed through with that resolve. The world knows it. We need to refund and rebuild our military so days like D-Day become less likely. Speak softly and carry a big stick. Those were not words of bravado from Theodore Roosevelt back in 1900, they were as much a warning to our adversaries as a code of conduct. Human behavior has not changed since then. There are still crazy people running countries who are consumed with increasing their power. We need to follow Teddy’s advice and stay prepared. A long memory is a good thing. Staying prepared shows we remember and respect the sacrifices made to preserve our freedom, and the lessons it taught us.
