
 |
|
February 10, 2012
Lisa M. Krieger: Man with defibrillator demands access to his own heart's information
David G. Savage: Why activists may not be in a hurry to have High Court rule on alternative marriage
February 9, 2012
Laura McMullen: 10 Least Expensive Public Schools for Out-of-State Students
Kimberly Palmer: How to actually enjoy -- relaxing, financially -- your vacation
February 8, 2012
Warren Richey: Why momentous Prop. 8 ruling might not satisfy gay-rights groups
Menachem Wecker: Though Controversial, LL.M.'s Can Lead to Specialized Legal Jobs
The Kosher Gourmet byDana Velden: Going to the bother of making soup? You know it better be good. This CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP certainly is! And it's a cinch to make, too (Includes techinques and serving secrets)
February 7, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Caught off-guard? President's Super Bowl interview with Matt Lauer gives those who need a reason not to vote for him, a darn good one
Suzanne Bohan: Leaping lizards! Tiny reptiles advancing robot design
February 6, 2012
Jonathan Tobin: Iran Threatens Israel With Destruction, But the New York Times Doesn't Hear It
Jeffrey Fleishman: In newly democratic Egypt, tens of democracy activists jailed, to stand trial; their groups are 'threatening the stability of the homeland'
Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
February 3, 2012
Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
Caroline B. Glick: Obama: Of course I intend to prevent a nuclear holocaust . . . in a few months
Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
Jeannine Stein: An inflated ego and thinking you're 'all that' doesn't just make others sick of you, it can make you ill
Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
Jordan Rau: In quest to grow, Catholic hospital system will announce this morning its break from church
Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
January 18, 2012
January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
David G. Savage: They sued their principals after slandering them online --- now the cases are headed to the Supreme Court
David Francis: Where to Invest in 2012: With stocks expected to rebound, opportunity abounds for investors
January 13, 2012
Ben Lynfield: Israeli lawmakers move to annex Jewish Judea, one museum at a time
Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
Warren Richey: Supreme Court says no to new rule on eyewitness testimony
John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
The Kosher Gourmet by Joseph Erdos: This mushroom and barley soup has an intense -- almost nutty -- flavor that mixes robust with Middle East. It has creaminess without cream
January 11, 2012
Shari Roan: Millions of atrial fibrillation sufferers at risk for devastating, but preventable, stroke
Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
|
| |
Jewish World Review
June 9, 2009
/ 17 Sivan 5769
Every man had to be a hero
By
Wesley Pruden
| 
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
The reunion of old soldiers becomes ever more poignant as the boys of an earlier summer move closer to the shadows that eventually embrace us all. The old battlefields that once commanded the rapt attention of everyone become remembrance colored in fading shades of sepia.
The present generations can scarcely fathom the enormity of D-Day in the lives of those who lived through it, soldier and civilian, just as the generations that followed could scarcely imagine the horror the young nation felt at Antietam, the chill that swept across the nation the morning after the Titanic went down, or the thrill of Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic. Every generation furnishes its own iconic events.
The men who survived the unique hell of the landing beaches of Normandy Omaha, Utah, Gold, Sword and Juno are old men now, the youngest in their 80s, many approaching 100, and they're shipping out to Valhalla at the rate of 5,000 every week. President Obama and the leaders of Britain, Canada and France did their best this year, commemorating the 65th anniversary of a spectacular amphibious landing we'll never see the likes of again. Melancholy overwhelmed sweet remembrance; the boys of summer have become the old men of late autumn.
Barack Obama said the right things, and said them well. The occasion, wrapped in the somber pride of a grateful nation, would have transformed wooden remarks by George W. into golden eloquence, particularly if he had thought to get Peggy Noonan to write the words for him. But this year there was none of the electricity of Ronald Reagan's masterful tribute to "the boys of Pointe du Hoc," who did the impossible, scaling sheer 90-foot cliffs overlooking the beaches to silence German guns.
"What we cannot forget what we must not forget is that D-Day was a time and place where the bravery and selflessness of a few was able to change the course of an entire century," the president said, reprising the spirit of Winston Churchill's tribute to the young men of the RAF who won the Battle of Britain: "Never was so much owed by so many to so few."
It's difficult now to recall how high the stakes of June 6, 1944. Failure was not an option, but the prospect of catastrophe was real. "At an hour of maximum danger and amidst the bleakest of circumstances," the president recalled on the beach on Saturday, "men who thought themselves ordinary found it within themselves to do the extraordinary. They fought out of a simple sense of duty - a duty sustained by the same ideals for which their countrymen had fought and bled for more than two centuries."
Nearly 160,000 men were put ashore at dawn's first light on D-Day 73,000 Americans, 61,000 British and 20,000 Canadians. By nightfall, nearly 5,000 Americans lay dead on the beaches. Even landing such a figure without the withering German fire would have been an astonishing feat of logistics. Five days later, the invasion force had grown to 330,000 men, bringing with them from staging areas in England more than 54,000 tanks, trucks and jeeps.
Nearly all the troops arrived on the beach in 36-foot plywood landing boats, the work of a brash, rough-hewn, profane, hard-drinking and hard-driving boat-builder in New Orleans. Andrew Jackson Higgins was described at the time by Fortune magazine as "having a pleasantly malicious expression." Life magazine described him as a man with "the characteristic bluntness of the old-time American frontiersman," who resembled the conventional captain of industry "about as much as a commando resembles a desk sergeant." Andrew Higgins was the commando. Jerry E. Strahan, a biographer, noted that he wore dark shirts and dark suits and "was not afraid to call anyone he disliked a s.o.b. to his face." He drove men hard in his four New Orleans shipyards. He festooned his production lines with a large banner, warning, "The guy who relaxes is helping the Axis." His men loved him and broke production goals throughout the war. The U.S. Navy had nearly 12,000 ships afloat by the end of the war, and Higgins had built nearly 10,000 of them.
Dwight D. Eisenhower, the supreme commander in Europe, said years afterward, "Higgins is the man who won the war." Higgins would have scoffed. He never let his boatbuilders forget who would ride their boats to war. They were all the men who got it done.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Wesley Pruden is editor emeritus of The Washington Times. Comment by clicking here.
Wesley Pruden Archives
© 2007 Wesley Pruden
|
|

Arnold Ahlert
Mitch Albom
Jay Ambrose
Michael Barone
Barrywood
Tony Blankley
Lori Borgman
Stratfor Briefing
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Richard Z. Chesnoff
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Alan Douglas
Larry Elder
Suzanne Fields
Frank J. Gaffney
Bernie Goldberg
Jonah Goldberg
Julia Gorin
Jonathan Gurwitz
Paul Greenberg
Argus Hamilton
Victor Davis Hanson
Betsy Hart
Ron Hart
Nat Hentoff
Marybeth Hicks
David Horowitz
Jeff Jacoby
Renee James
Paul Johnson
Jack Kelly
Ed Koch
Ch. Krauthammer
Michael Ledeen
John Leo
David Limbaugh
Kathryn Lopez
Rich Lowry
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Ann McFeatters
Dale McFeatters
Dana Milbank
Jeanne Moos
Dick Morris
Jim Mullen
Deroy Murdock
Judge A. Napolitano
Bill O'Reilly
Kathleen Parker
Star Parker
Dennis Prager
Wesley Pruden
Tom Purcell
Sharon Randall
Robert Robb
Cokie & Steve Roberts
Heather Robinson
Pat Sajak
Debra J. Saunders
Martin Schram
Culture Shlock
David Shribman
Roger Simon
Michael Smerconish
Thomas Sowell
Ben Stein
Mark Steyn
John Stossel
Cal Thomas
Dan Thomasson
Bob Tyrrell
Ben Wattenberg
Diana West
Dave Weinbaum
George Will
Walter Williams
Byron York
ZeitGeist
Mort Zuckerman

Robert Arial
Chuck Asay
Baloo
Chip Bok
Dry Bones
Lisa Benson
John Branch
John Cole
J. D. Crowe
John Deering
Brian Duffy
Everything's Relative
Mallard Fillmore
Glenn Foden
Jake Fuller
Bob Gorrel
Joe Heller
David Hitch
Jerry Holbert
Lee Judge
Steve Kelley
Jeff Koterba
Dick Locher
Jimmy Margulies
Rick McKee
Michael Ramirez
Kevin Siers
Jeff Stahler
Ed Stein
Danna Summers
John Trever
Gary Varvel
Kirk Walters

Mr. Know-It-All
Dr. Peter Gott
GET A JOB! by Marty Nemko
Richard Lederer
Frugal Living
Tech Maven
On Nutrition
Bookmark These
Bruce Williams
|