Normandy, France Awe and Gratitude
Normandy · France · June 6, 1944
The ElixirNormandy: Awe and Gratitude
A visit to the D-Day landscape turns history into something immediate: bravery, sacrifice, freedom, and the resolve of one extraordinary day.
Field Note · The Shrine
One Day That Changed the World
D-Day was the first successful opposed landing on French territory—then held by Nazi Germany—in more than 800 years.
Today I finally got the chance to visit this shrine to bravery and resolve, built around one day: June 6, 1944.
History becomes different when you stand where courage was required.
Normandy and the Memory of D-Day
The Cost of the Invasion
More Americans died in the invasion than in the whole Iraq War.
The Scale of the Landing
A Key Foothold in Europe
D-Day was the extraordinary day in 1944 when 156,000 Allied forces—including 34,000 American troops—landed on the beaches of France.
The landings gave Allied troops a key foothold on the continent and hastened the end of the Second World War.
Allied Forces
The total cited in the original field note for the troops who landed in France.
American Troops
The American contingent cited in the original account.