Battles That Changed History, Second Period 4/15
"June sixth, 1944," Steve said. "Normandy, France. D-Day on Omaha Beach. I was there.
"This was the largest amphibious invasion of all time. Airborne troops were inserted the night before, then one hundred and seventy-five thousand men, many of them not much older than you, stormed these beaches early in the morning under heavy fire. The goal was to create a beachhead to open up a new front in the war and facilitate the retaking of France, and we did that. From here Allied forces pushed all the way to Berlin, where they met up with the Soviets, and Hitler died...not actually on fire in a ditch, but I like to pretend." Even Steve was allowed to be malicious and petty about Hitler. "We knew we were in the right, that the atrocities the Nazis had committed had to be answered for, but we knew it wasn't going to be easy. We knew we were going to have to fight for every inch. We knew a lot of us weren't going to live to see noon. I wasn't afraid to die. A lot of men were scared to death, and that was okay, but I wasn't, because I knew what we were doing was necessary. Take the beach, take the town, take the country, take the war. Step by step by step. But first..." he trailed off for a moment, faraway, then cleared his throat and said, "First we had to live through the morning.
"I tried to come up with an appropriate activity for you, but I have to be honest. This is too close to the heart for me. It's hard for me to talk about even now. So. We're going to watch the first half-hour of a film, which deals with this world's version of the storming of Omaha Beach." That would be, the version without the Invaders' involvement. "I don't ask much of you, I just ask that you watch, and not nap or chatter through it."
"This was the largest amphibious invasion of all time. Airborne troops were inserted the night before, then one hundred and seventy-five thousand men, many of them not much older than you, stormed these beaches early in the morning under heavy fire. The goal was to create a beachhead to open up a new front in the war and facilitate the retaking of France, and we did that. From here Allied forces pushed all the way to Berlin, where they met up with the Soviets, and Hitler died...not actually on fire in a ditch, but I like to pretend." Even Steve was allowed to be malicious and petty about Hitler. "We knew we were in the right, that the atrocities the Nazis had committed had to be answered for, but we knew it wasn't going to be easy. We knew we were going to have to fight for every inch. We knew a lot of us weren't going to live to see noon. I wasn't afraid to die. A lot of men were scared to death, and that was okay, but I wasn't, because I knew what we were doing was necessary. Take the beach, take the town, take the country, take the war. Step by step by step. But first..." he trailed off for a moment, faraway, then cleared his throat and said, "First we had to live through the morning.
"I tried to come up with an appropriate activity for you, but I have to be honest. This is too close to the heart for me. It's hard for me to talk about even now. So. We're going to watch the first half-hour of a film, which deals with this world's version of the storming of Omaha Beach." That would be, the version without the Invaders' involvement. "I don't ask much of you, I just ask that you watch, and not nap or chatter through it."