A day we can't afford to forget

Today marks the 68th anniversary of the Allied invasion of Normandy during World War II. Commonly remembered as "D-Day," the Allied victory here spelled the beginning of the end for the Nazis. Less than a year later, on May 8, 1945, Germany surrendered, putting an end to the European portion of the war. Japan surrendered just three months later, following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
   In the decades following the end of World War II, certain dates have become famous. Each year, veterans from that war stop to remember Dec. 7, 1941, which marks the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, the singular event that finally brought America into the war. They also pause to remember today with great pomp and ceremony, and they call on this, and future, generations never to forget the importance of these increasingly distant anniversaries.
   The pleas to remember these days are much more than the simple reminisces of aging veterans from America's "Greatest Generation." These aging warriors are right that we shouldn't forget about these important days in our nation's history. We can't afford to.
   To forget about D-Day, to relegate it to just another footnote in our history, would be the ultimate slap in the face to those veterans who died in the invasion. And it would be a slap in the face to those who survived.
  D-Day was, and remains, the single largest amphibious invasion the world has ever seen. More than 160,000 Allied troops participated, and more than 10,000 died in the effort. What they accomplished with Operation Overlord changed the course of the war by breaking the back of the Nazi regime. Ultimately, what they accomplished changed the course of world history. That sacrifice, and that accomplishment, deserves to be remembered.
   Forgetting D-Day means forgetting those hard-fought lessons taught by the war. World War II let us see, perhaps for the first time in modern history, the face of pure evil in Adolph Hitler. It taught us that we cannot afford to simply turn away from that evil. No matter how heinous, it must be confronted and ultimately dealt with. And it illustrated, in horrific terms through Hitler's concentration camps, the ultimate result of bigotry and hatred when left unchecked.
   Thousands of Americans fought and died so that we might learn those harsh realities, and we shouldn't let that sacrifice be in vain. Today, we should stop and reflect on those lessons learned more than a half century ago. We should find a veteran (of any war) and say "thank you" for their willingness to sacrifice to keep our nation free. And we should take the time to begin teaching the next generation those important lessons that the "Greatest Generation" has taught us.