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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.
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