One of the Magnificent Eleven. Photographer Robert Capra landed at Omaha along with the second wave and took 106 photos, of which only 11 survived a photo lab processing accident.

First things first.

At 0016 hours today, the Horsas began to crash-land near the Caen Canal in Normandy, France. The liberation of Europe was under way.

Over 24,000 young men jumped from planes or landed in gliders to support the 160,000 men who waded ashore. They were not veterans of combat. They did not consider themselves heroes. They were there to do the job of freeing Europe from tyranny.

The stories of their heroism are well documented, yet increasingly forgotten. It is likely that you will see nothing of today’s importance from the mainstream media as you check the news this morning because it happened 69 years ago.

We should never forget their sacrifices. I won’t. Today is D-Day.