That’s the title of a great film that tells the story of a great generation–Tom Brokaw called it the Greatest Generation. Produced by the legendary Darryl F. Zanuck, the film is full of great actors and many lesser known ones, but it tells the story of D-Day, 6 June 1944, from both the Allied and the German perspectives. It tells of the very bad weather that caused multiple postponements and almost scuttled the invasion. And it tells of the anxieties of the Allied commanders, especially General Dwight D. Eisenhower, that the invasion–launched under several disadvantages–could very likely end in catastrophe. He had even written in advance an apology for “the failure” of the enterprise, code-named, Operation Overlord. On the German side, a few astute commanders were not convinced by Adolf Hitler’s insistence that the invasion would come at Pas-de-Calais rather than Normandy. In the film, one of the commanders, Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, is asked why he does not voice his concerns to Hitler. His answer, dramatized in the film, but never actually uttered by von Rundstedt, is “Weil ich nicht bereit bin, dem Führer zu widersprechen / Because I am not prepared to contradict the Führer.” That response was meant to show the paralysis of the German command system and the reluctance to confront Hitler. Nevertheless, amidst all of the formidable obstacles, Operation Overlord went ahead–and succeeded. Eisenhower never had to use the letter of apology for failure of the invasion.

Earlier this week, I watched a re-broadcast of an interview of one of the few remaining American veterans of D-Day. Veteran foreign correspondent Christiane Amanpour interviewed US Army veteran Jake Lawson who was attending the D-Day memorial ceremonies at Normandy in 2024. He was over 100 years old. Jake left no doubt about the reason for the sacrifices of so many young American and Allied soldiers and sailors in that war. “We all knew, every one of us, why we were fighting: for freedom from tyranny. And to kick Hitler’s ass out of Europe. And we did.” Jake Lawson passed away the following year.

On the anniversary of D-Day, my family has always remembered my paternal uncle, George A. Marrash, United States Army, who served in the 23rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. Uncle George deployed in the Normandy invasion, and was severely wounded in the Normandy campaign about 9 July 1944. He was evacuated to England where he died of his wounds on 17 July 1944. He is buried in a military cemetery in his home state of Pennsylvania.

Today, I also want to pay a special tribute to another member of my family, who served during World War Two. I would like to recognize and salute my maternal uncle, Sam Sadie, United States Marine Corps. Uncle Sam is 100 years old, a little frail, but still lucid and wise-cracking as ever. After his service in the war, Sam returned home, went to college on the GI Bill, and became an English teacher in the Fairfield Connecticut public school system from which he retired in the late 1980s. Although very few of his contemporaries remain, like them, he has not forgotten why he went to war in 1943.

We must not fail to remember what the Greatest Generation did for all of us, America and the world. Their achievement made possible the uniting of the Western world around the principles that created the United Nations, which emphasized respect for the rule of law in both domestic and international relations and the Bretton Woods agreement that established the global monetary system that has fostered trade and economic progress. The postwar realignment of the World War Two Western Alliance, saw the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which brought together the Western nations in an alliance that has prevented the outbreak of a major war in Europe for almost eighty years, holding back Communist expansion in Europe and across the globe. That is, until February 2022 when an expansionist post-Soviet Russia under Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine bringing an unprovoked war full of violence and death.

All that the Greatest Generation achieved had given the entire world an unprecedented eight decades of relative peace and stability despite the periodic flair up of violent conflicts. That relative peace and stability appears to be unraveling now. Heretofore we have exemplified to the world a society founded on justice and fairness and individual freedom under law. But that world that we have known is being undermined systematically and the values it has maintained for most of the last century and the start of this one are being jettisoned. Greed, self-indulgence, personal ambition, fanatical partisanship, and blatant disregard for ethical and moral norms are rampant. Hypocrisy is at its zenith, and decency is casually scoffed at. We can do better than that. We must do better for our children and grandchildren and the rest of our posterity.

Americans have never failed in the past to respond to our better angels by respecting one another and seeing beyond our personal differences–that is how we truly can make ourselves great again. Let’s rise to the challenge and rebuild our nation around ethical civic behavior, respect for the rule of law, rational policymaking and reliance on education and scientific exploration to advance our progress, and the fostering of compassion and decency toward our fellow man. For in the final analysis, we are all children of God.

IN MEMORIAM (uncles, father-in-law, father, great uncle):

George Marrash, US Army, 23rd Inf. Reg., 2nd Inf. Div., WWII, DOW France, 1944

Tony Marrash, US Army, WWII

Louis Gramesty, US Army, 8th Air Force, WWII

Elias T. Marrash, Auto-Ordnance Co., Thompson Submachine Guns, WWII

Elias Tamey, US Army, WWII