Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Remembering D-Day

WWII: Europe: France; "Into the Jaws of Death - U.S. Troops wading through water and Nazi gunfire". 6 June 1944, 08:30. Wikipedia

D-Day: More Americans Died In That One Day Than In All Of Iraq War -- New York Daily News

Operation Overlord cost 29,000 U.S. lives, conflict in Iraq 4,800

To get a sense of how great a sacrifice the U.S. made 68-years-ago when the Allies stormed the beaches of Normandy, consider this tragic arithmetic: That battle cost 29,000 American lives.

By contrast, a little over 4,800 U.S. soldiers were killed in combat during the entire war in Iraq.

And while most Americans now think the Iraq War was a terrible mistake, few would argue that the D-Day invasion, which helped loosen the Nazi grip on Europe, was worth it.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: Wikipedia's entry on D-Day is rather good. That link is here.

3 comments:

CDR M said...

I believe US deaths during Operation Overlord on June 6th are quite a bit lower than 29K. Various sites report it between 4 and 5 thousand.

War News Updates Editor said...

Thank you CDR M for your comment. I have also read different casualty statistics. 29K is a lot .... but in the summer of 1944 U.S. casualties were running in the hundreds per day ... so this 29K stat is probably for the summer of 1944.

War News Updates Editor said...

These D-Day Overlord casualty numbers come from Encyclopaedia Britannica.
http://doinghistoryproject.tripod.com/id28.html