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 The Invasion
Interactive feature of the most complex attack ever conceived
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E-mail your letter to the editor
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| U.S. COAST GUARD/AP |
| FIRST WAVE: A landing craft hauls American invaders ashore |
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| The Greatest Day |
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Why it matters 60 years later |
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By NANCY GIBBS |
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Posted Sunday, May 23, 2004
Every war is born with hateful
qualities, like the promise of waste and cruelty. So to be considered good and honored in memory, a war must overcome its very nature, leap past means to ends. World War II remains the model Good War, and D-day, its greatest day—one of those rare hinges of history that might have bent the other way. ![If I hear any speculation coming out of the White House about Secretary [Rumsfeld], you'll answer to me. —President Bush, speaking to his senior staff](http://img.timeinc.net/time/covers/1101040531/images/blockquote.gif) It had taken years for the U.S. to embrace its urgent necessity and hurl itself into the battle. The invasion plan, two years in the making, was still a mad gamble; though the force was overwhelming, the outcome was never assured. The 150,000 men who landed that June dawn carried a copy of General Eisenhower's "Order of the Day," which declared that they had embarked on "the Great Crusade." By the end of that day, thousands would be dead, yet by then few would question whether the price had been worth paying for the prize of Hitler's defeat.
America now finds itself in the middle of another war. . .
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