June 5, 2015 - D-Day was the focus of a VFW Post 8904 ceremony held on Friday, June 5, 2015 with Larry Hume, Post Quartermaster, leading the program.
"We're here today to commemorate the 71st anniversary of one of the most important dates in our country, commonly known as D-Day, the codename was Operation Neptune. D-Day was the turning point in World War II on June 6 [1944], which is tomorrow, saw the start of the largest air and sea operation in military history."
Hume continued by describing the amount of military involved in the operation. On D-Day the allies landed around 156,000 troops of which 73,000 were Americans. The amount of equipment used was staggering and the airborne landings on both flanks of the Normandy Beach 2,395 aircraft, 867 gliders of the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces were used on D-Day. It also involved huge naval forces including over 6,900 vessels, 1,213 navy combat ships, 4,126 landing ships and landing craft and 736 ancillary craft and 864 merchant vessels.
195,700 personnel were assigned to Operation Neptune, 52,889 from the United States, 112, 824 were British and over 4,900 from other allied countries. By the end of June 11 over 3,000 troops, over 54,000 vehicles and over 140,000 tons of supplies had been landed on the beaches and while there's no official casualty for D-Day the total allies casualties on D-Day are estimated at 10,000 and the United States lost approximately 6,603 men.
"Today we take time to reflect on what took place on the beaches of Normandy and appreciate the sacrifice made by so many to ensure the continuation of our free market economy and our federal republic," said Hume. "Their sacrifice helped us keep the freedoms we enjoy, and the irony is that among those freedoms they sacrificed for was the freedom to choose to ignore this day if you so wish and many do as you can see today."
Hume thanked all who were present and those that regularly attend VFW ceremonies. In honor of those who sacrificed on June 6, 1944 and the days following a memorial wreath was placed on the Shelby County Veterans Memorial by Newton Johnson, Senior Vice. Taps was then presented by Mike Langford, Post Commander.
