D-Day
June 6, 2012 (Wednesday)
Today is the 68th anniversary of “D-Day,” when huge numbers of Allied military landed on the beaches of France. They began an offensive that ended eleven months later on “VE-Day” (Victory in Europe Day). The Axis powers in Europe were surrounded on all sides as the Allied powers closed in. Millions died and Europe was left in shambles.
Four months after “VE-Day,” Japan formally surrendered. “VJ-Day” had arrived. The entire war was then officially over.*
Aside from the official documentary films, the D-Day landings of the Allied troops are portrayed most vividly in the movie, “Saving Private Ryan.” It is a very long sequence — and loud — that really impresses upon the viewer the horrors of that day. I believe every American should see it at least once.
We all wish that the end of World War 2 marked the end of all wars, but, alas, such is not the case. Many thousands have died in subsequent wars, to this very day. Jesus words have proved to be prophetic: “There shall be wars and rumors of wars..”
As we remember “D-Day,” let us also remember, as we did on Memorial Day, the brave men and women who have given their lives in defense of our freedoms. Let us also remember the veterans of that war who are now departing the ranks of the living, and the veterans of the subsequent wars, many of whom constantly bear the marks of their heroism.
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*(In 1967, 22 years after the surrender of Japan, I flew to Tokyo on my way to Okinawa, where I was to visit missionaries Dwight and Ann Dudley and their family and preach. On the plane, I sat next to Hajimi Onishi, who flew a surrender plane from Tokyo to Ie Shima, near Okinawa, where the people boarded American planes to Manilla, where the surrender was negotiated. On the way back, he ran out of fuel before reaching Tokyo, and crashed into Sagami Bay. Some of his crew were killed, and he was a day late in returning to Tokyo with the dignitaries and the 
paper work for the surrender. Incidentally, he was a graduate of MIT before the war. When I met him, he traveled extensively as a petroleum buyer for Japan, which produces no petroleum yet is a major user of the product).