Thursday, June 6, 2019

D-Day and the Gettysburg Address

As has been widely noted, today is the 75th anniversary of D-Day, June 6th, 1944.  John Richardson at No Lawyers - Only Guns and Money gives some demographics in D-Day: The Largest Seaborne Invasion in World History, a post I almost put up last night.  Borepatch has a couple of pieces; 75 years ago tonight they jumped about the parachute jumps behind the Nazi front lines and The Day of Days on the landings themselves.  Almost everyone has a post commemorating the day.

The world, not just America, is indebted to everyone who took part, from the front line grunts to the Rearest REMF logistics guy (because everyone knows an army marches on its stomach).  For obvious reasons, we honor the guys who went ashore in the face of wilting gun fire, mortars and other threats. For equally obvious reasons, the planning, logistics and coordination of the entire invasion needs to be honored, too. 

Because of all that I see it as incumbent to say something nobody else has, which is to invoke the closing lines of Lincoln's Gettysburg address, about 80 years before Normandy.  Remember that Gettysburg had the largest number of casualties in the War Between the States.  It was the most horrific battle in the most horrific war.  Lincoln's message was about them, but it speaks to us - to me - through the ages.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.  [BOLD added - SiG]
 

Lincoln tells me not to just honor these guys' memories, fight to make sure the forces of evil and stupidity don't destroy everything they fought for.  There's at least two thirds of the 691 candidates running for president on the Evil Party side who qualify for inclusion in those "forces of evil". 


7 comments:

  1. 100% of Democrats.
    75% of Republicans.

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  2. shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

    Spoken by the only military dictator the US ever had, about an
    imperial war to keep taxes flowing from the South to run government in
    the North. The quote doesn't fit civil war 1's historical situation,
    which is about the maximum of 'taxation without representation'.
    Lincoln could also have written War Is Peace, Freedom Is Slavery, and
    Ignorance Is Strength.

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    1. The southern states had no representation in Congress?! Goodness! O_o

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  3. Well, despite Lincoln's well known eloquence, you know that I'm not exactly a fan of him. The warning of these words is that while we honor the sacrifice made by the men we must be ever vigilant that imperial power grabs use that sacrifice for its own benefit. The post Cold War history is particularly instructive on that point.

    Yesterday I watched the entirety of Reagan's "The Boys of Pointe du Hoc" speech, which is just about half way between out time and the Day Of Days itself. It was a different world in 1984, simpler and clearer. His successors have a very mixed foreign policy record which has led us, step by step from that day on Pointe du Hoc to where we have troops in 100+ countries.

    The legacy of Lincoln was an Imperial US Government that subjugated the States. Post 1989 seems to have extended this to much of the world. Just as many (most?) of the Union dead at Gettysburg did not fight to create that empire, the Boys of Pointe du Hoc did not fight for the current one.

    This is a pretty pessimistic comment, and I'll probably do a post on the subject.

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    1. This is a pretty pessimistic comment, and I'll probably do a post on the subject.

      I look forward to it.

      Lincoln is a conflicted character in history, and while I come close to sharing your "not exactly a fan of him", I try hard to not judge historical figures by our 21st century standards. Imposing modern standards on them is how we get people tearing down statues of historical figures and trying to wipe history of any ideas other than today's orthodoxy.

      It's probably not possible for many people to look at the quote itself and not see the speaker, but that was my intent. I have a remote family member who's a D-Day survivor and my intent here is to honor the concept of the quote. Don't honor what they did so much as honor the concept that they fought so "that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

      I find it hard to disagree with that, no matter who said it.

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  4. honor the concept that they fought so "that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

    That's not why they fought. Rather, the middle class on all sides was sent off to kill each other so the elites on all sides would not have to face competition from them. Orwell pointed out that an elite gets replaced when it goes soft by a portion of the upper-middle class. When the elite isn't soft it kills that portion periodically in wars, and destroys the savings of the layer below.

    Imagine instead if only 5% of the American fraction of that war's price had been spent, but entirely on submarines, radar, and nuclear bombs. There would be no landing craft on North American beaches.

    http://www.charleslindbergh.com/americanfirst/speech.asp

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