Dispatch From Normandy: A Pilgrim’s Note

Editor’s Note: A personal reflection by Cipher Brief Senior Tech Editor Ken Hughes, who traveled to Normandy, France this week for the observances of the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

OPINION — Dante wrote, in Canto III of The Inferno:

Various tongues, outcries of woe,
Accents of anger, voices deep and hoarse,
…Made up a tumult, that forever whirls
Round through that air with solid darkness stain’d,
Like to the sand that in the whirlwind flies.

Gliding down the Seine by boat from Paris to Honfleur, close to the D-Day beaches, no “outcries
of woe…voices deep and hoarse” greet you, no hellish cacophony conjured by Dante.
In these early days of June 2024, the river journey is the very definition of idyllic – lush spring
greenery along placid banks, punctuated here and there by glimpses of chalk hillsides,
riverfront estates, and humble cottages.
Nothing on the sojourn hints at raw carnage. Even on a milestone anniversary of the D-Day
invasion, the titanic battle of national wills and coiled forces that was the reality here 80 years
ago is submerged by the passing of time.
Submerged, but not forgotten.
In a world more inclined to cynicism than reverence, there is genuine esteem in the air. Town
centers across Normandy gather local dignitaries for commemoration ceremonies. The flags of
France, America, Britain, and Canada grace buildings, roads, and homes. Communities
surrounding the landing beaches look like movie sets for “Saving Private Ryan,” overrun with
vintage jeeps, artillery setups, and reenactors parading the uniforms of every force involved –
paratroopers, commandos, landing craft operators, military and Red Cross nurses.
Capping off this commemoration is the retinue of world leaders pouring into the country – Biden, Macron, Trudeau, and Sunak representing the principals; King Charles, Zelensky, EU president Michel attending as well, among many others. Russia is notably absent.
It is a celebration, but a solemn one.
At the American Cemetery at Omaha Beach on June 6, President Joe Biden recognized the gravity of the memory, and the challenge it poses today: “In memory of those
who fought here…let us be worthy of their sacrifice. Let us be the generation that when history
is written about our time — in 10, 20, 30, 50, 80 years from now — it will be said: When the
moment came, we met the moment.”
D-Day’s bloodletting and casualty counts provide the backdrop to observances throughout the
weekend. But there’s another layer of sacrifice being honored here. 20,000 French civilians died during the Normandy campaign that stretched into September. 10,000 perished during the days invasion itself. Pile on those whose communities and livelihoods were permanently altered and eradicated — it is a grim calculation.
Much of the rest of the world has moved on. This may be the last milestone anniversary –
marked every five years – that actually has D-Day veterans in attendance. So when that
generation passes from view, will D-Day retain its significance?
That’s a good question, one that joins others: What’s the future of the Atlantic Alliance?
Political talk in Europe these days includes imaginings of a beefed-up continental military force,
perhaps less reliant on the U.S. An isolationist strain in U.S. politics raises the possibility of
waning commitment to transatlantic ties.
In many ways, NATO seems more robust than ever, fueled by Russia’s aggression against
Ukraine and lingering suspicion in European capitals of even larger Kremlin appetites. While
that may stifle any immediate moves to lessen NATO’s scope and heft, one wonders about 5, 10
years down the road.
It’s not surprising that President Biden found it necessary to reinforce the importance of the
alliance, remarking: “America has invested in our alliances and forged new ones — not simply
out of altruism but out of our own self-interest as well. America’s unique ability to bring
countries together is an undeniable source of our strength and our power. Isolationism was not
the answer 80 years ago, and it is not the answer today.”
But thoughts about NATO’s future are for another day, and a different setting. The deserved
tributes of national leaders are being voiced, alongside the devotion of tens of thousands at
the gravesites of the fallen.
For this pilgrim, focus returns to the event itself, the stepping off into the unknown that the
planners of the invasion experienced, and the unknowns into which they committed American,
British, Canadian, French, and other Allied troops under their command.
It returns me to my opening, to a hellscape that certainly played itself out on Omaha, Utah,
Juno, Gold, and Sword beaches.
The irony of the D-Day endeavor is that those who experienced hell helped neutralize it. I
don’t claim D-Day delivered paradise exactly, but it led to the extermination of a clear and
present evil. Just as important, D-Day’s long-past valor opened the opportunity for the post-
war generation to carve out a far different future for the world, and it still does.

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