Honoring America’s military sacrifices, on D-Day and today | Editorial

This commemoration of the World War II invasion of France, known as D-Day, may be the last in which veterans who participated in that battle 80 years ago will be able to attend. While 150 Americans were expected for the ceremonies held every five years, only 12 were among the 160,000 Allied troops who fought on Normandy’s beaches to begin their nine-month march into Nazi Germany.

News outlets will be interviewing former soldiers and sailors like Jack Foy, 99, who told a CNN reporter, “We realize we’re getting to the end of our time.” In fact, only about 120,000 of the 16.4 million Americans who served in World War II are still believed to be alive; about 7,000 of them from Pennsylvania, 3,000 from New Jersey, and 450 from Delaware.

This possibly being the last hurrah for the remaining D-Day vets was an added incentive for heads of state, including President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, to also plan to be in France. The rest of us will likely pay attention only briefly, following a generational pattern that typically occurs when personal connections to wars and battles that we otherwise only read or heard about are lost.

Like old soldiers fading into memory, celebrations of past battles also eventually die, while some commemorations have been hijacked over the decades to rewrite history. Think of all the statues of Confederate generals ceremoniously unveiled long after they lost the Civil War.

That shouldn’t happen with D-Day. It is hoped that the daring exploits of World War II’s participants, captured on film and chronicled in books, will remain long after they are gone. But even as the truth of what those heroic combatants accomplished remains accessible, there is the question of who will be interested. Americans no longer have the same affinity for the military as they did when it was more common to have served or have a close relative in the armed forces.

That’s a consequence of having an all-volunteer military, but one this country readily accepted after watching news coverage of the carnage of the Vietnam War displayed daily on their TV screens. Conscription was abolished two years before that war ended in 1975. No more draft cards. But having a military dependent on a much smaller pool of voluntary recruits hasn’t worked out as well as anticipated.

The Army, Navy, and Air Force collectively missed last year’s recruitment goals by 41,000 recruits. Defense Undersecretary Ashish Vazirani, in part, blamed a stronger economy that provides more job options. But likely more important than that talking point was his other observation that while 40% of young people in 1995 had a parent who served in the military, that figure was only 12% in 2022.

“This has led to a disconnect between the military and a large share of society,” Vazirani said. “We must reach today’s youth where they are with a message that resonates with them and motivates them to act.”

Meanwhile, the same men and women, often from similar communities and economic situations, keep reenlisting to fill the gap. That takes a toll.

Many find it difficult to adjust to life outside the military, and families must endure their absence during multiple deployments. Some critics also say having an all-volunteer army made it easier for the nation’s leaders to involve this country in foreign conflicts such as the Persian Gulf wars and Afghanistan. Fewer people object when sending U.S. troops doesn’t mean drafting their sons and daughters to fight.

Rather than reflect on what should be, however, in this moment let us instead consider what has already occurred.

Consider that on June 6, 1944, the beaches of Normandy were invaded by 160,000 Allied troops, that 4,400 of them were killed on the first day of a battle that lasted 12 weeks, and that only a few Americans there that day are still alive. Let’s honor the living and dead by also remembering and respecting what they fought for — the end of a tyrannical regime that sought to impose its will on the world.

Tyrants still exist, and when they act out, just as it was on D-Day, we as a nation must be prepared to respond.