TheD-DayLanding—Passage1

　　InSeptember1939,BritaindeclaredwaronGermanyafterGermanyinvadedPoland.Thewar,whichlasteduntil1945,isknownastheSecondWorldWar.Duringthewar,Germanyoccupiedmanycountries,includingFrance.ThemostimportantbattleofthewarinEuropewasOperationOverlord,themilitaryoperationin1944toinvadeFrance.

　　OperationOverlordstartedwhenboatsfullofsoldierslandedonthebeachesofNormandyinFrance,knownastheD-Daylandings.Morethan5,000shipscrossedtheEnglishChannel,carrying130,000troopstotheFrenchcoast.

　　TroopsfromtheUnitedStates,BritainandCanadatookpartintheD-Daylandings.Theoperationwasextremelydangerousandmanysoldierswerekilledbeforetheyevengotofftheboats.Americansoldiersattemptedtolandatthemostdangerousplace,knownasOmahaBeach.

　　ThesituationatOmahaBeachwassobadthattheUSarmycommandersthoughtaboutabandoningtheinvasion.Eventually,thesoldiersmadeabreakthroughandtheD-Daylandingsweresuccessful.ItwasthebeginningoftheendoftheSecondWorldWar.

　　OperationOverlordstartedasastoryofdangerandconfusionandendedasastoryofbraveryandactsofheroism.

　　TheD-DayLandings—Passage2

　　ThesoldiersofAbleCompanycrossedtheEnglishChannelinsevenboatsearlyonthemorningof6June1944.Whentheywereabout5kilometresfromthebeach,theGermansstartedfiringartilleryshellsatthembuttheboatsweretoofaraway.TheGermanscontinuedfiringandBoat5washitonekilometrefromthebeach.Sixmendrownedbeforehelparrived.Twentymenfellintothewaterandwerepickedupbyotherboats.Asaresult,theymissedthefightingonthebeach.Theywerelucky.Iftheyhadreachedthebeach,theywouldprobablyhavebeenkilled.

　　WhenBoat3wasafewmetresfromthebeach,thesoldiersjumpedout,butthewaterwassodeepthatsomeofthemdisappearedunderthewater.Manyofthemenwereeitherkilledorwoundedbymachinegunfire.

　　ThesoldiersonBoat1andBoat4jumpedintothewater,butitwastoodeepandmostofthemdrowned.Halfanhourafterthefirstattack,twothirdsofthecompany(acompanyisagroupofabout100soldiers)weredead.Thesurvivorslayonthebeach,exhaustedandshocked.

　　Afteranhourandforty-fiveminutes,sixofthesurvivorstriedtoclimbuptheclifftogetoffthebeach.Fourweretooexhaustedtoreachthetop.Theothertwo,PrivateJakeSheferandPrivateThomasLovejoy,joinedagroupfromanothercompanyandfoughtwiththem.Twomen.Tworifles.ThiswasAbleCompany'scontributiontoD-Day.

　　TheD-DayLandings—Passage3

　　On6June2004,survivorsoftheD-DaylandingsfrommanydifferentcountriesreturnedtoFrancetoremembertheirlostcomrades.ManyofthemwenttothecemeteryandmemorialwhichoverlooksOmahaBeach.

　　ThecemeteryandmemorialaresituatedonacliffoverlookingthebeachandtheEnglishChannel,fromwheretheboatsattemptedtheirlandings.Thecemeterycontainsthegravesof9,386Americanswhodiedduringthelandings.Thememorialalsocontainsthenamesofmorethan1,500menwhowereneverfound.

　　Onthememorial,thereispartofapoemcalled"FortheFallen",whichwaswrittenbyanEnglishpoet,LawrenceBinyon:

　　Theyshallnotgrowold,aswethatareleftgrowold.

　　Ageshallnotwearythem,northeyearscondemn.

　　Attheg