Latest news with #AlliedTroops
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
81 Years After D-Day: Honoring the courage that changed history
BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) — June 6 marks 81 years since D-Day — the largest seaborne invasion in military history and a pivotal moment that helped turn the tide of World War II. While the battle took place thousands of miles away, its legacy lives on through the voices of veterans and institutions like the USS Kidd Veterans Museum in Baton Rouge. Alexis Anderson, a U.S. Air Force veteran, reflected on the scale and significance of the operation. 'No matter how many times you look at that battle, it was so audacious,' Anderson said. 'They were amazingly committed to something during a time when, until Pearl Harbor, this country was very divided about how they saw this war. But they found the tenacity to come together.' On June 6, 1944, more than 150,000 Allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy, launching an all-out assault against Nazi Germany in hopes of liberating Europe. The mission came at a high cost — thousands of lives were lost — but it marked the beginning of the end of the war. Eighty-one years later, those sacrifices continue to echo through history. For Parks Stephenson, executive director of the USS Kidd Veterans Museum, the day remains an example for future generations. 'They were all in their late teens, early twenties, and they were fighting for the fate of the world,' Stephenson said. 'It was freedom versus fascism. We still fight those fights today.' Inside the museum, one artifact stands out — a combat helmet worn by Staff Sergeant Pike, who went ashore on D-Day. 'This is a good visual representation of what you would see on those beaches,' Stephenson explained. 'The Allied troops stormed ashore facing front to the enemy, and the enemy fired back with ferocious firepower.' For veterans and historians alike, keeping the memory of D-Day alive is about preserving the values that defined it. 'It's to the youth that we're speaking to,' Stephenson said. 'This could be your war as well — and that's something I'd like to leave with everybody.' As time passes and the number of living World War II veterans dwindles, remembering June 6th becomes even more essential — not only as a lesson in courage, but as a reminder of the cost of freedom. National Guard troops arrive in Los Angeles after days of immigration protests Ohio State says every student will become fluent in AI with new program 81 Years After D-Day: Honoring the courage that changed history GOP braces for first 'test run' on codifying DOGE cuts The best trucks for towing for 2025 Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Sky News
31-05-2025
- Politics
- Sky News
Dunkirk anniversary: 85 years on from historic rescue of Allied troops, little ships recreate Operation Dynamo
Eighty-five years on from the historic rescue of hundreds of thousands of Allied troops from France, a flotilla of little ships have recreated the biggest evacuation in military history. Operation Dynamo, from 26 May to 4 June 1940, saw more than 338,000 British, French and Belgian troops, trapped by the invading German forces around Dunkirk, brought home by roughly 1,000 vessels in a desperate and near-miraculous rescue over more than a week of sailings. It was one of the turning points of the Second World War, saving the Allied cause in Europe from total collapse, allowing them to regroup after the Nazi Blitzkrieg threatened to sweep Germany to a rapid and complete victory. One of the soldiers saved in what came to be known as the Miracle of Dunkirk was Queen Camilla's father, Major Bruce Shand, and she paid tribute to him on Saturday. In a post on Instagram, the Queen pointed to the "eclectic collection of seafarers, ferry masters, barge hands, fishermen and children, with their little ships" that carried out the stunning rescue. In his memoirs, she said, Major Shand wrote that he took shelter in a ship "'commanded by a midshipman who looked about 12, assisted by a boatswain aged 80'". She said he and his comrades "would today be grateful beyond words for this lifeline". Scroll down for pictures of the boats that took part in the memorial sailing.
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
On This Day, May 18: Wilson signs Selective Service Act amid WWI
On this date in history: In 1896, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down the Plessy vs. Ferguson decision that determined "separate but equal" racial policies are constitutional. While the ruling was never explicitly overruled, many high court decisions over the ensuing decades have effectively nullified it. In 1917, President Wilson signed the Selective Service Act of 1917 by which the United States raised an army for service in Europe during World War I. In 1927, the legendary Grauman's Chinese Theatre opened in Hollywood with the premiere of The King of Kings. The iconic theater -- a favorite for major studio openings -- was renamed the TCL Chinese Theatre in 2013. In 1933, the U.S. Congress created the Tennessee Valley Authority for flood control and rural electrification. In 1944, Allied troops captured Monte Cassino in Italy after one of the longest and bloodiest battles of World War II. In 1969, Apollo 10 blasted off into space to perform a test run of what would become the Apollo 11 moon landing, coming to within 51,200 feet of the moon's surface. The mission also sent back the first televised color images of earth. In 1979, a U.S. court jury in Oklahoma City awarded $10.5 million to the estate of Karen Silkwood, a laboratory technician contaminated by radiation at a Kerr-McGee plutonium plant in 1974. In 1980, Mount St. Helens in southwestern Washington state erupted, blowing the top off the mountain and killing 57 people. In 1990, East and West Germany signed a treaty for economic, monetary and social union. West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl said the pact marked the "birth of a free and unified Germany." In 1991, chemist Helen Sharman became the first Briton in space when she blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard a Soviet spacecraft. In 2004, Randy Johnson, Arizona's 40-year-old left-hander, pitched a perfect game in a 2-0 win over Atlanta. He was the oldest major league pitcher to accomplish the feat. In 2018, 10 people -- eight students and two teachers -- died after a fellow student opened fire at Santa Fe High School, near Houston. In 2022, President Joe Biden invoked the Defense Production Act to address a nationwide shortage of infant formula.
