Yesterday marked the 70th anniversary of D Day. Seventy years is a long time, but not for some.

An 89-year-old British Royal Navy vet was so determined to get to D-Day commemorations in Normandy Friday that he snuck away from his nursing home without warning and boarded a bus for France. (full article British Vet Missing)

On June 6, 1944, more than 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline, to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which, “we will accept nothing less than full victory.” More than 5,000 Ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion, and by day’s end, the Allies gained a foot-hold in Continental Europe. The cost in lives on D-Day was high. More than 9,000 Allied Soldiers were killed or wounded, but their sacrifice allowed more than 100,000 Soldiers to begin the slow, hard slog across Europe, to defeat Adolf Hitler’s crack troops.  (http://www.army.mil/d-day/)

Here is President Eisenhower’s letter to the troops