UPI publishes a D-Day op-ed by Senior Advisor to the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security Harlan Ullman:
Two days hence marks the 70th anniversary of Operation Overlord (Neptune for the naval portion) and the Normandy invasion.Supreme Allied Commander U.S. General Dwight David Eisenhower’s orders were to occupy Europe and destroy the Nazi war machine. D-Day marked the start of Ike’s crusade in Europe.
Standing atop the Ponte du Hoc heights overlooking Omaha Beach where the U.S. Rangers valiantly assaulted German defenses was always more telling for me than visiting great battlefields from Yorktown to Waterloo and Agincourt. Perhaps because World War II was as close as any conflict in history matching good against absolute evil, Normandy epitomized the ultimate allied victory in smashing the fiendish Hitlerian enemy.