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June 6, 2024, marks the 80th anniversary of D-Day – the landing of U.S. forces on the beaches of Normandy, France.
D-Day marked a turning point in the war, and the number of casualties suffered by area servicemen increased significantly.
The Memorial Day program held in the city auditorium on May 30, 1944, was a solemn affair. The feeling of tenseness which permeated the room that morning was attributed not only to the fact that fighting was raging on a dozen different fronts, but that the long-awaited invasion of Western Europe appeared imminent.
Everyone knew that Germany’s day of reckoning was about to arrive. At a meeting held in Tehran in November 1943, Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin had agreed a massive offensive would be launched in May 1944.
The three allied leaders also discussed how Germany would be divided up after the war. Although details of the planned invasion remained a closely-guarded secret, the Advocate of April 12, 1944, reported the date had been set and detailed plans had been worked out. Military officials predicted the chance of success at nearly 100 percent.
Local draft boards had been working overtime and fewer deferments were being granted. With more than 5 million young Americans serving overseas, few families remained untouched by war. Reports in the press that Hitler was willing to sacrifice 200,000 men to defend the so-called Atlantic Wall did nothing to alleviate the worries of parents with sons or daughters in, or about to enter, the military.
Allied soldiers had been fighting their way up the Italian peninsula since landing in Sicily in July 1943.
After months of heavy fighting, the fall of Rome was expected shortly after Memorial Day. Meanwhile, huge fleets of U.S. and British bombers were pouring high explosives on military targets and raining fire and death on German cities. Widespread condemnation of the U.S. bombing of the 1500-year-old Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino, Italy, coupled with concern over a possible Catholic backlash in an election year may have spared Rome a similar fate.
Eighty years ago this Memorial Day, more than a million fighting men were massing in British ports, along with millions of tons of war material and thousands of ships. At the same time, Stalin’s multi-million man army was preparing to strike from the east. Germany was in deep trouble and Hitler and his staff were well aware of it. On Tuesday, June 6, 1944, General Dwight D. Eisenhower issued a terse statement: “Allied naval forces, supported by strong air forces, began landing this morning on the northern coast of France.“ Business came to an immediate standstill in Laurel as news of the landing crackled over the airwaves. Flags were unfurled in front of houses and businesses and nearly everyone gathered around radio sets to listen for the latest news flashes.
By the time word of the attack reached Laurel, Editor Allison had completed the first press run of the June 7th edition of the Advocate. He quickly cleared out a two-column space on page 6 and reported the event in what had been an editorial column.
In his front page column, “The Safety Valve Pop Offs” Allison suspended his ongoing coverage of an illicit romance allegedly being conducted in a black Ford. “You know us Main Street admirals and drugstore generals have our hands full right now with this invasion and we can’t be bothered with little things like petting parties on a dark road.“ On page 6 he wrote: “THE GREAT DAY IS HERE! The world awakened Tuesday morning to find radios blaring forth the news that Tuesday was D-Day, the long-expected invasion of Hitler’s European fortress.
Allied armies struck fast and furious and, as this is being written, all reports are to the effect that the invasion is going according to plan and that the United Nations armies have firmly established beachheads and had moved several miles inland in the Cherbourg and LeHavre areas in Normandy.
