The Boys of Pointe du Hoc Return to Normandy for the Last Time

The 80th anniversary of D-Day and the end of our living memory of World War 2.

D-Day snuck up on me this year. June 6 has always been a big deal, whether because I was into history from a young age, because my father talked a lot about the Second World War (from the Soviet side, with Stalin’s accompanying purges), or because I chose a career advancing liberty. But this year, with heavy work travel and kids activities, it slipped my mind until photos of the landing at Omaha Beach and related gems started appearing in my Twitter/X timeline yesterday. And yet this year may be the last “real” commemoration of one of the greatest days in human civilization, in terms of round-number anniversaries.

Think about it: the soldiers who were 18 years old in 1944, if they’re still with us, are 98. There already aren’t too many WW2 vets around—let alone those who participated in the invasion of Normandy—and five years from now that will dwindle to an even smaller number of centenarians. There’s been a renaissance in WW2 books and movies in the last quarter-century, but we’re now at the point of losing the literally living memory. The Greatest Generation has made its mark on the history books, but alas that’s where its members reside, in addition to the cemeteries in France and elsewhere in Europe, Asia, and indeed down the road from where I’m writing this, in Arlington, Virginia.