Michael Vlahos on D-Day (June 6, 1944): “We had to create—not just a mythic moment—but a moment of unique American sacrifice. It is the great liturgy of the American experience."
Click the arrow to listen to the radio broadcast:
 

Michael Vlahos, PhD teaches in the Global Security Studies program at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Arts and Sciences. 
The John Batchelor Show is a syndicated radio show. You can subscribe to podcasts of the show through iTunes or RSS.
Excerpts from first part of Michael Vlahos’ conversation with John Batchelor

Batchelor: “D-day was America’s entry into the world.”

Vlahos: “There was an element of strategy that we unconsciously configured for ourselves. We configured the most difficult piece of the occasion to be the experience at Omaha Beach.

“We deprived the British Empire of their opportunity for heroic sacrifice. We made sure that the great sacrifice was going to be ours that day. And the great sacrifice—was what was required.

“We had to create—not just a mythic moment—but a moment of unique American sacrifice. We not only managed to do that—we managed to shape that as an experience—that performs for us constantly even as we speak.

“As we look back, it is the great liturgy of the American experience—not just in World War II—but of the America that was born on that day. It’s a kind of high mass of the nation—of the American ethos.”
Excerpt from General Eisenhower’s statement encouraging soldiers, sailors and airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force, June 6, 1944—about to take part in the D-Day invasion:

“You are about to embark on the Great Crusade—toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. You will bring about the destruction of the German war machine. The free men of the world are marching together to victory. We will accept nothing less than full victory.”

To listen to the entire statement, click here.
To read the complete (original) document, click here.

About D-Day

The expression "D-Day" has come to mean the greatest single Allied operation of World War II, the invasion of Normandy. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which, “we will accept nothing less than full victory.” He gave the order and set in motion the largest amphibious invasion in world history. An armada of over 4,000 warships, nearly 10,000 aircraft, and about 160,000 invasion troops.

On June 6, 1944, more than 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline, to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. By day’s end, the Allies gained a foot-hold in Continental Europe. The cost in lives on D-Day was high. More than 9,000 Allied Soldiers were killed or wounded, but their sacrifice allowed more than 100,000 Soldiers to begin the slow, hard slog across Europe, to defeat Adolf Hitler’s crack troops. Click here to read more about D-Day.