U.S. European Command (USEUCOM) and its components will virtually commemorate the 76th anniversary of the World War II Normandy landings this weekend.
On June 6, 1944, almost 160,000 Allied forces landed in Normandy, France, as part of Operation Overlord, the largest amphibious assault in history. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which, “we will accept nothing less than full victory.” The operation known as D-Day proved to be the tipping point for World War II in Europe.
“While we will never know every individual act of heroism that occurred on D-Day, we can pause to honor all the Allied forces who acted so valiantly 76 years ago,” said Gen. Tod D. Wolters, commander, U.S. European Command.
Every year, USEUCOM components and historic-lineage military units from the U.S. participated in D-Day commemoration in the Normandy region of France. Due to COVID-19, most D-Day anniversary events and ceremonies were cancelled this year – so the D-Day tradition continues virtually.
USEUCOM is hosting eight military historians from the U.S., the UK and France for a virtual historical discussion about the multinational, multi-domain nature of D-Day. The event will be posted on June 6 at 3:30 p.m. CET on the command’s social media channels at www.facebook.com/eucom, www.twitter.com/us_eucom and www.instagram.com/eucomofficial.
In addition, the commanders of U.S. Air Forces in Europe (USAFE); U.S. Naval Forces Europe (NAVEUR); U.S. Army Europe (USAREUR); U.S. Marine Forces Europe (MARFOREUR); and U.S. Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR) recorded a joint video message that will be posted on the command’s website at www.eucom.mil plus social media channels as well as www.youtube.com/useucom and https://www.linkedin.com/company/useucom, on June 6 at 8 a.m. CET.
On June 6, F-15s assigned to USAFE will fly over all five D-Day beaches and Pointe Du Hoc on the French coastline, and C-130s from USAFE will fly over Mont Saint-Michel, a tidal island in Normandy. USAFE and USEUCOM will share video of the flights via social media.
“D-Day gave birth to modern-day, multinational operations and forged an unbreakable trans-Atlantic bond that stands ready to deal with security challenges today and into the future,” Gen. Wolters said.
