Uncle Charlie on D-Day

George Parry, a real Philadelphia Lawyer, shares his annual message about his wife’s Uncle Charlie on D-Day.

One of my favorite English professors at UCSB, Ed Loomis, as a young infantryman landed at Normandy after D-Day and fought his way to Germany. He told me that he and his fellow soldiers didn’t have a lot of high-flown thoughts about the war; they wanted not to die and for the war to be over and to make it home again. He also said that the Germans, even in retreat, were smart, resourceful, and deadly.

The (justifiably) scared young men who landed on that beach in 1944 nevertheless kept going. Thankfully, most of them came home after the war.

Could we rise to a similar challenge today, as we almost certainly will have to? I believe the answer is yes.

It’s a good day to be thankful for the gifts that the imperfect, brave Americans who came before have given us.