Eighty years ago to this day, one of the most momentous military operations in world history took place on the beaches of Normandy, in northwest France.
The D-Day landings, when Allied forces stormed into Nazi-occupied France and changed the course of World War II, were commemorated today by President Joe Biden and other world leaders who delivered a moving message: “We will never forget you “.
But it seems that many young Americans have forgotten or never heard about the landings.
—Do you mean like the day of judgment? A New York University student responded when DailyMail.com asked if they knew what D-Day refers to.
She was just one of several who had no idea about today’s anniversary, or confused D-Day with other World War II events such as the attack on Pearl Harbor.
“I think there were bombs involved, but I don’t know anything else,” said one young woman.
Some people were able to correctly identify that D-Day refers to the Allied landings in Normandy.
A reporter asked people young and old in Washington Square Park, neighboring the New York University campus, what they knew about the event and whether it should still be commemorated today.
D-Day occurred on June 6, 1944, when 160,000 Allied troops crossed the English Channel and landed on the beaches of Normandy, beginning a major assault that would finally liberate France from Nazi occupation and ensure victory in Europe.
About 73,000 soldiers were from the United States and 83,000 from Great Britain and Canada. Many thousands more from around a dozen other Allied nations also played a crucial role in the landings, code-named Operation Neptune.
“I think there were bombs involved, but I don’t know anything else,” said one young woman.
“I think it’s the day we won World War II,” said another.
There was also some confusion among New York’s finest. “Wasn’t that Pearl Harbor?” said one NYPD officer when asked if he knew what D-Day was, before a prolonged ‘ohh, yeah!’ when they told him that, in reality, it was the Normandy landings.
Some were able to remember more details about the events after being told that they were related to the landings in Normandy.
Those of us who knew what D-Day was about also said it was important to educate people about important moments in history. Several cited the saying that those who do not know history are condemned to repeat it.
A 2004 Gallup poll found that 40 percent of Americans couldn’t identify what D-Day was about. Young adults knew the least about it.
US soldiers Sergeant RA Forbis, Private John Krisa and Corporal VE Holtz of the Army Corps of Engineers read letters on an unidentified beach captured on D-Day.
Allied ships, boats and bombardment balloons off Omaha Beach after the successful D-Day invasion. The bloody landing cost the lives of 5,000 Allied soldiers
American soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division firing a 105mm HM3 howitzer in the days after the D-Day landings at Carentan, a French town near Utah and Omaha beaches.
A separate survey this year in Britain found that less than half of young adults know what D-Day is, while one in five think it should no longer be commemorated.
The survey, carried out by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, polled 2,000 adults and found that less than half (48 per cent) of those aged 18 to 34 could recognize D-Day as the day when Allied forces crossed the English Channel to launch an offensive on the coast. Nazi occupation in Normandy.
In total, 59 percent of those surveyed were able to identify it correctly.
A small section thought it was the Dunkirk evacuation (9 per cent) and 8 per cent thought it was victory day in the Battle of Britain. One in ten thought it was the day Hitler’s Germany surrendered.
Biden led commemoration events in Normandy on Thursday alongside King Charles III, French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
President Joe Biden, first lady Jill Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron take the stage during ceremonies to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
Veterans of World War II at the American Cemetery in Normandy: 11 of them received the French Legion of Honor
The US president used his speech to warn that democracy around the world was at risk and also referred to the ongoing war in Ukraine following the Russian invasion.
The commemorations also provided a hugely symbolic backdrop for talks on how kyiv can regain ground after Russian advances, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attending an international ceremony with all leaders.
Biden said D-Day showed the need for international alliances and vowed never to abandon Ukraine in its fight against Russia, in a direct attack on his electoral rival, former President Donald Trump, who has publicly questioned the importance of organizations like NATO.
“We live in a time when democracy is more at risk around the world than at any time since the end of World War II,” Biden said.
“Isolationism was not the answer 80 years ago and it is not the answer today,” he said.
“Real alliances make us stronger, a lesson I hope we Americans never forget.”