Normandy Beaches Research Articles

Naval Strategy in the Normandy Invasion

The Normandy invasion, also known as Operation Overlord, was one of the most monumental events in the history of World War II. On June 6, 1944, nearly three million Allied troops crossed the English Channel from England into France occupied by Nazi Germany. The invasion of Normandy opened the way to the liberation of Europe and finally ended World War II. Naval strategy was crucial in this operation to support the landing of troops on the beaches of Normandy. In the context of naval strategy, the Normandy invasion involved coordination between the navy, army, and air force. The writing methodology uses a descriptive method by analyzing the facts that occurred during the 1944 Normandy battle and is supported by literature studies, literature and various scientific journals.

‘Did my grandfather storm the beaches of Normandy for this shit?’ Mnemonic wars and digital games

In the last 40 years, digital games have become an important negotiating space for experiencing historical worlds, and games with historical content enjoy an exceptionally high level of popularity. However, the way history is portrayed in these games has been the subject of heated controversy. These conflicts arise primarily around the question of what constitutes ‘authentic’ and thus ‘correct’ representations of the past and intensify when current ideological debates intersect with particularly emotionally charged collective memories. This article shows how collective memory can be contested when it becomes the object of ideological struggle.

J.D. Salinger and the moral wounds of war

AbstractThis paper examines Salinger's novel Catcher in the Rye for some insight into a soldier's psychological reactions to prolonged exposure to combat. Salinger was a heroic survivor of some of the worst battles on the Western Front, starting with landing on the beaches of Normandy and ending with the Nazi surrender. He is also an example of how the experience of war effects young men who fight in it. Salinger was very reluctant to talk about his wartime experiences except with others who shared the same experience, as is common among combat veterans. The author of this paper believes that clues to the impact of the war on Salinger can be found, in disguised form, in his writing, especially in Catcher, which Salinger worked on throughout the war, and for 6 years after it. This paper also looks at the nature of the “moral wound” now of much interest and where that wound may be located in the psyche.

Dynamics of Nearshore Waves during Storms: Case of the English Channel and the Normandy Coasts

This research was carried out in the framework of the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) program of the French National Centre of Space Studies (CNES). In the context of global climate change, increases in frequency and intensity of extreme events are considered potential threats. Hence, many efforts have been devoted to acquiring a better understanding of the natural processes driving the hydrodynamics’ multiscale variability in order to produce a more accurate estimation of their fluctuations. In this situation, and in the framework of Normandy’s coastal risk management, the dynamics of extreme events were investigated from regional scales (the English Channel basin) to local scales (the Normandy beaches in Etretat and Hautot-sur-Mer). Offshore wave data were obtained and hourly wave data were simulated for two years using the SWAN (Simulating WAves till Nearshore) model, including ten highly energetic stormy events selected by their different physical characteristics. Spectral analysis was conducted to compare the transformation in frequencies of the wave spectra from the Channel to shallow waters. A special focus was given to the hydrodynamics close to Normandy during these extreme events depending on their duration, their strength, and the persistence of the maximum wave height.

Crises of commemoration: Cold War, decolonization and the bungled 1954 D-Day commemoration

Abstract In 1954, international dignitaries and veterans joined the commemoration of the Allied landings on the beaches of Normandy, though not everything went according to plan. For the French organizers, chief among them Gaullist deputy Raymond Triboulet, the event was intended to communicate a unifying, pro-Allied message amid a turbulent political climate. By June 1954, France had recently suffered a decisive defeat at Dien Bien Phu and was politically gripped by the divisive prospect of a European Defence Community. In debates over these crises, war memories surfaced and France’s experience of the Occupation and Liberation enflamed passions. For many who attended the Normandy ceremony in 1954, the missteps of organizers created tension and upset, endangering Allied participation in the Paris Liberation ceremonies to follow. This moment of disjuncture illuminates how currents of memory, international diplomacy, decolonization and broader Cold War tensions all intersected and influenced each other on the Normandy beaches.

Pinter Meets Duras and Varda on the Beach: A Screenplay

HAROLD PINTER, British playwright, screenwriter, director, and actorMARGUERITE DURAS, French novelist, screenwriter, writer, and filmmakerAGNES VARDA, French film-director, photographer, and artistNormandy and Place des Voges, FranceMarguerite Duras's The Malady of Death; Blue Eyes, Black Hair; and La Pute de la Cote Normande, and Agnès Varda's Les Plages d 'Agnes and Villages Visages all inscribe the Normandy beaches as sites of encounter, observation, contemplation, terror, and the possibility of impossibility. The wide, bright, nearly unending stretches of white sand edged in distant indigoes host insights gleaned from gleaming loss, joy snatched from waves of ethernities (Jarry on purpose here), and a sense of the incommensurabilities of media, both with one another and with the presence they vainly try to capture. As Duras and Varda contemplate the sands/screens of memory/presence, Harold Pinter observes them, a potential Matchseller coming into the sandy “garden” of nostalgic ache. Pinter finally converses with them as they all begin to envision comingled scenes from the multiple pasts of their works.Sounds of the sea mixed with very subdued sound of people talking. Tentative beginnings of first musical theme. Fade up to Yellow Screen dissolves to Red Screen dissolves to mid-section close-up of woman in red dress pulling back to long shot of red dress woman in Honfleur, which gradually dissolves to Vermeer painting of Delft, which dissolves back to view of Honfleur to close-up of woman in red dress walking along the quai, which dissolves to woman walking in Place des Vosges that zooms in to close-up of red dress that dissolves to Red Screen dissolving back to yellow, dissolves to close-up of sand dissolving to close-up of wheat pulling back to wheatfield dissolving to shot of Varda and JR on road back to close-up of wheat to sand pulling back to beach and sea and finally to sea. Long duration of sea shot. Sounds of ocean lower as distant sounds of people talking emerge, a bit of cacophony. The chatter resolves itself into a duet of voices, Marguerite and Agnes, musical theme low in the background.1

The 99th Battalion

5 w o r k s i n p r o g r e s s The 99th Battalion Kyle Ward and Odd S. Lovoll Our forthcoming book, Viking Battalion: The Norwegian-­ American’s War against Hitler, looks at the 99th Infantry Battalion (Separate), which was a unit made up specifically of Norwegian Americans and Norwegians in exile. While this unique unit would serve in Europe and be connected to some of the most famous battles and events in that theater of war, it quickly disappeared from the history books after the war ended. The 99th was originally formed by the U.S. War Department in the summer of 1942. It was not the only “ethnic” unit the U.S. military tried to create during the war; others included the 100th (Japanese American), the 101st (Austrian American ), and the 122nd (Greek American) Infantry Battalions. While the 101st and 122nd never really came to complete fruition, the 100th, along with its counterpart , the 442nd (made up of second-­ generation Japanese Americans), went on to receive a great deal of recognition for their service. For their part, the 99ers were originally organized at Camp Ripley, Minnesota , and then sent down to Fort Snelling, Minnesota, for the first few months of 6 works in progress their existence. Then the army sent this group to Camp Hale, Colorado, to begin an extremely rigorous training regime in the high altitudes of the Rocky Mountains, where they were trained in mountain climbing, skiing, and winter survival. During their training in Colorado, the 99th was reviewed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the commander-­ in-­ chief. A small part of our book will investigate this brief but highly publicized encounter. We believe that this small unit was highlighted by the president, and given a great deal of publicity, in order to send a message to Germany that the United States was preparing to invade Norway. If the Figure 1. Men of the 99th during their training at Fort Snelling, Minnesota in the fall of 1942. After organizing at Camp Ripley, Minnesota, the 99th briefly trained at Fort Snelling before moving on to finish their training in Colorado. Author Kyle Ward’s personal collection. 7 the 99th battalion message was received and believed by Germany, Hitler would be forced to keep his 350,000 soldiers, plus their supporting planes, tanks, and ships, in Norway, rather than deploying them to other likely continental invasion sites, such as the Normandy region in France. After training at Camp Hale, the 99th was sent to England and then, rather than going to Norway, actually landed on the Normandy beaches about two weeks after the initial invasion. From there, this relatively unknown group of highly-­ trained soldiers was sent across Europe, and participated in some of the most important and significant events in the European theater. A quick scan of their service record shows that they were at Cherbourg, held off SS attacks at the Battle of the Bulge, saved some of the survivors of the Malmedy massacre, guarded the gold and artwork found at Merkers Mine (depicted in the book and movie Monuments Men), and helped liberate the Buchenwald concentration camp. Figure 2. Two soldiers standing by a sign at Camp Hale, Colorado. The 99th would train at Camp Hale from December 1942 to August 1943, where they were put through some of the most strenuous training the U.S. Army had to offer. Author Kyle Ward’s personal collection. 8 works in progress After the final surrender of Germany in May of 1945, the 99th was finally sent to Norway, where they were given the honor of serving as King Haakon VII’s honor guard upon his return from exile. While the men were excited simply to finally get to Norway, some official duties remained, such as helping to remove the remaining German forces and working with Norwegian police and military to get them reestablished. On a more personal note, they also played a lot of soccer against Norwegian teams, spent time reconnecting with immediate or distant family , and for a few dozen, meeting their future wives. Figure 3. Men of the 99th with medical training were part of the original group...

D-Day, Collateral Damage, and the 1923 Hague Draft Rules of Aerial Warfare

This paper examines the question of whether the adoption of the 1923 Hague Draft Rules of Aerial Warfare as binding international law might have changed the outcome of the D-Day invasion during World War II. The delegates to The Hague conference proposed a severe restriction on the use of air power in urban areas, but the rules were never adopted as international law. Two decades later, the international community’s failure to adopt the 1923 Hague Draft Rules had a significant impact on the D-Day invasion. On June 6, 1944, the Allies mounted the largest amphibious operation in history as 150,000 troops stormed the Normandy beaches of Nazi-occupied France. The landings succeeded in no small part because of the Allied air forces, which mounted a massive interdiction campaign to prevent the German army from rushing to the French coastline and destroying the Normandy beachhead. Operation Overlord, the code name for the D-Day invasion, marked a major turning point in the war, accelerating the collapse of Nazi Germany, which surrendered 11 months later. As the historian Ian Kershaw has observed, Operation Overlord marked “the beginning of the end for the Third Reich.” The D-Day air campaign, however, came at a severe cost for French and Belgian civilians. At least 12,000—and possibly more than 25,000—French and Belgian civilians died as unintended casualties of the Allied bombing campaign. Although the Allied air strikes clearly played a critical role in interdicting the German army, it was by no means clear that the vast scale of the bombing was necessary. Whether the interdiction objectives could have been achieved by a more modest—and less destructive—air campaign was an open question at the time and remains so for many historians today. One of the principal reasons why the Allies implemented a massive area bombing campaign against French and Belgian rail centers was because international law did not provide clear guidance regarding air warfare. But it might have had the 1923 Hague Draft Rules of Aerial Warfare been adopted as binding international law. The Draft Rules prohibited area bombing in urban areas, which is precisely what the Allies engaged in during the D-Day air campaign. Had the Rules been in effect in 1944, the Allied air campaign in support of the D-Day operation may well have been much more modest in nature. But would the reduction in collateral damage have come at the cost of jeopardizing the invasion’s success? The story of The Hague Draft Rules and the controversy over the D-Day air campaign demonstrates the unique challenges and inherent complexity of the effort to use international law to protect civilian populations during wartime.

Borders and Crossings

Borders and Crossings Douglas Silver (bio) The switchboard lamps flash to life every hour on the hour, coinciding with the radio newscast. Americans are calling to speak to President Truman, to Vice President Barkley, to Secretary of War Patterson. Instead they get Operator #9, Genevieve Higgins, who answers with a sprightly "White House, how may I direct your call?" and then incurs a litany of grievances. They are angry about rocketing inflation, about Soviet rockets, the price of eggs, the cost of war. A man from Biloxi fumes over a Negro baseball player debuting for the Brooklyn Dodgers' farm team in Montreal. One surly woman, convinced The Postman Always Rings Twice harbingers a Communist invasion, is aghast when Genevieve tactfully declines to patch her through to the leader of the free world. "Next time you see Harry Truman," she says, "tell him Betsy Mare from Knoxville thinks he's just rotten." The woman's outrage is comical, much like her delusion that Genevieve and the president are acquaintances, that perhaps the message will be relayed during lunch-hour chitchat or hallway pleasantries. The dirty truth about the White House operators is that they don't work in the White House. They—Genevieve and eight other women, all her senior in both age and rank—are installed next door, seated at a wall-length console in an otherwise cramped subbasement of the Executive Office Building. This remove from the Oval Office has in no way discouraged her mother from crowing to the housewives at church group—specifically those whose sons are single and gainfully employed—embellishing her daughter's function of screening calls and plugging jacks to an appointment behooving Senate confirmation. One such housewife, a Mrs. Coleman, new to the church, takes the bait. Her son is a police officer. Prior to that, he was an Army private first class who assailed the beaches of Normandy. His name is Walter and, Genevieve's mother informs her, he will pick her up on Saturday evening. ________ Walter Coleman is husky, with an overbite like a ship's prow and, fittingly, a sodden voice that gurgles as if a lozenge were perpetually dissolving on his tongue. He opens the car door for her, the soda fountain door, waits for her to sit first, insists on paying for their ice cream before she has the chance to offer. His manners are mannered, as if he were adhering to a primer on dating etiquette. To Genevieve's amazement, she finds this endearing. Less so that he prefaces most statements with My mother told me . . . : "My mother told me you [End Page 68] sing like Billie Holiday"; "My mother told me you have a secret recipe for the best apple cobbler in the world"; "My mother told me you talk to the president all the time." Of course, Genevieve doesn't know Walter's mother from a sack of potatoes. He is merely reiterating the extravagant biography her mother fed his mother, an approach Genevieve reciprocates, their conversation more like decryption, translating the puffery of their mothers into the brass tacks of each other. As such, Genevieve clarifies that she sings along to Billie Holiday, that the secret behind her apple cobbler is that she lifted the recipe from a Betty Crocker cookbook, that only Mrs. Burston (Operator #1) and Mrs. Reynolds (Operator #2) deal directly with the president. None of this deters him. He, too, likes Billie Holiday. He, too, likes Betty Crocker. He voted for Harry Truman but hoped the president would've accomplished more by now. "I'll pass along your disappointment," she says. "No need. I haven't given up on him yet." Genevieve isn't sure if he is mirroring her sarcasm or oblivious to it. Either way, she is grateful when Walter slurps the last fudgy puddle of his sundae and they reverse course to her house. He escorts her to the door. In the dark his features seem less pronounced, the shadow chiseling his jawline. She thanks him for the wonderful night. "Maybe next time we'll go to a movie," he says. "My mother told me you have a real thing for Cary Grant." "He's...

The contribution of Royal Navy aircraft carriers and the Fleet Air Arm to Operation ‘Overlord’, 1944

This article examines the utility of naval aviation, specifically the contribution of the British naval air arm to Operation Overlord. It argues that while there were practical reasons for carriers not being present directly off the Normandy beaches, British naval aviation supported the invasion both directly (from ashore, and from carriers operating at a distance) and indirectly, over a long period. It was also performing a range of other roles in several theatres. Navies and naval aviation contribute to campaigns in a way that is different to land-based forces; understanding this requires a bigger map and a longer timeline.

The waves at the Mulberry Harbours

The Mulberry Harbours were used during the Second World War as part of Operation Overlord, the invasion of northern Europe by the Allies in June 1944. This commenced with the D-Day landings on the Normandy beaches on 6th June. The harbours played an important role in the history of ocean engineering leading to the development of novel technology and new theory. A severe storm occurred soon after the harbours were deployed leading to the destruction of the American harbour and severe damage to the British one. In this paper, we analyse this storm using hindcast data from ECMWF and SWAN modelling. We find that the waves were significantly more severe at the American harbour than at the British one, which may partially explain why the latter experienced less damage. We also find that the usually quoted figure for the storm severity of 1 in 40 years is a reasonable estimate for a summer storm at these locations.

On Sands Stained Red: Ordinary Men and Extraordinary Courage on Omaha Beach

On June 6, 1944, at approximately 7:15 A.M., only 45 minutes after the initial allied landing craft hit the beaches of Normandy, France, to breach Hitler's Atlantic Wall, 1 st Lt. Bob Edlin and the men of 1 st Platoon, A Company, 2 nd Ranger Battalion approached the smoke-shrouded Dog Green Sector of Omaha Beach in their LCA (Landing Craft Assault). Both A and B Companies' landing craft had spent the early hours of the morning trolling in a circling pattern a few miles off the coast of France awaiting orders to land. Those orders had now arrived.

When Vesuvius Erupts Again I’ll Cool my Tongue in the Mediterranean (or, I think our bodies are both molten and molting), and: Love poem written for the last swampland (or, global warming makes us fuck desperately)

When Vesuvius Erupts Again I’ll Cool my Tongue in the Mediterranean (or, I think our bodies are both molten and molting), and: Love poem written for the last swampland (or, global warming makes us fuck desperately) Kayleb Rae Candrilli (bio) When Vesuvius Erupts Again I’ll Cool my Tongue in the Mediterranean (or, I think our bodies are both molten and molting) After Hernan Bas’s Vesuvius If an orgasm is always a volcano, every volcano is my name. Lover Boy, when I see you in the bushes, you are the blood I want to swallow; your feathers paint my mouth with Revlon. You call me Cherry Noble when my lipstick flumes up red rock. You laugh when I can't confirm God is a woman simply because I'm not so sure I am. Catholicism is as bankrupt as Blockbuster so us queers are bent on rebranding. And Cover Girl, when my great-grandfather fought on the beaches of Normandy, the bullets thumped fire through the sand. Everyone was walking on broken glass, ash, boney ember. The largest amphibious assault ever recorded, and I think of the geckos I chased in Florida—their feet paddling the white sand. Their tails bouquets of cold blood in my hand. You should know I look nothing like my maternal family. I am Mediterranean, and when I fall in love it’s a magmatic mushroom cloud. I want to tell you every forget-me-not is really a scar so I hope you believe everything I say. An honest disguise isn’t a disguise at all. [End Page 140] Love poem written for the last swampland (or, global warming makes us fuck desperately) After Hernan Bas’s The Floridian the flamingo’s neck as shotgun barrel—yes i’m cocked constant for you. kink sweetly all over my back and know between my legs is twink canyon and nail polish removed. raw is nailing me to our bed. what’s gone is what was never meant to be. so when you say, water flatters the summer, do you mean my sweat smells of turpentine, lily pads, and the end of the earth? when you measure me, wingspan is ruled by tongue, height encompassed by your cardinal throat. directionless, i say go south and imitate flowers in the passenger seat: the shrug of lilacs, the last curtsy of a wild flower coughing up typhoid. if you’re ever fevering, i’ll LL cool J lick my lips around you, because it can be dry in the final june, and there will be no saxophone attending the apocalypse. the reeds are dried blood and cackle when fire comes. you say, i’ll touch you while the world burns. you name my clit cock. you put me in your hands; you trigger pull; you suggest we colt python and free range the day away. [End Page 141] Kayleb Rae Candrilli Kayleb Rae Candrilli is author of What Runs Over, forthcoming from YesYes Books and winner of the Pamet River Prize. They are published or forthcoming in Rattle, Puerto del Sol, Boaat, Booth, Muzzle, Rhino, and others. They hold an MFA from the University of Alabama and now live in Philadelphia with their partner. Copyright © 2017 University of Wisconsin Board of Regents

Irwin Feigin, MD May 13, 1915-January 22, 2015.

E steemed neuroscientist and former Professor of Neuropathology at New York University Medical Center, Irwin Feigin, MD, was born on May 13, 1915, in Manhattan, and died peacefully on January 22,2015, in Jamaica, Queens, New York. During World War II, Dr. Feigin attended Columbia College at Columbia University (from where he graduated at the top of his class), and attended the New York University School of Medicine. Dr. Feigin then served for the United States Army in the Medical corps, landing in France the day after D-Day. While working for the military, he was engaged in research on the evidence of German biological warfare. Dr. Feigin's experience on the beaches of Normandy engendered a life-long abhorrence of aggression. Returning to the US, Dr. Feigin began his research career in neuropathology at NY Presbyterian Medical Center, where he worked with the eminent pathologist Dr. Abner Wolf (who would later become his brother-in-law). …

De Tweede Wereldoorlog werd aan het Oostfront beslist

Abstract Seventy years ago, on 6 June 1944, the Allies landed on the beaches of Normandy. For long, especially during the Cold War, Western historians saw this as the decisive turning point of the Second World War. However, more recent historiography suggests that the fundamental battles were fought between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, on the Eastern Front. It was here that the majority of the Wehrmacht fought, where it suffered most of its casualties, and where it became clear at an early stage that the Third Reich could not win. This article discusses recent publications on the war in Europe and the Eastern Front in particular while at the same time addressing the question why, compared with the fighting in Western Europe, the war between Germany and the USSR was so ruthless and barbaric, a total war or Vernichtungskrieg in the literal meaning of the word.

Book Review: Benn Steil's, 'The Battle of Bretton Woods: John Maynard Keynes, Harry Dexter White, and the Making of a New World Order'

On July 1, 1944, less than a month after Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy, seven hundred thirty delegates from forty-four nations gathered at the Mount Washington Hotel in Carroll, New Hampshire — an area more commonly known as Bretton Woods. With the White Mountains serving as a backdrop, the participants spent three weeks designing multilateral institutions to facilitate international economic cooperation after the war. To paraphrase Vassar economist and American delegate Mabel Newcomer, there was little time for hiking. Two of these institutions, the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the World Bank), continue to play significant roles in the global economy nearly seventy years later. In his new book, The Battle of Bretton Woods, Benn Steil provides a well-researched and interesting account of the historic monetary conference. He draws heavily on archival evidence and clearly explains the motivations underlying the complex interactions leading up to, during, and immediately following the Bretton Woods meeting. His efforts make for an enjoyable read.

A Reconsideration of An American Dilemma

In 1944—the same year that segregated American troops landed on the beaches of Normandy and Americans back home mobilized to distinguish American democracy from the Third Reich—Gunnar Myrdal’s An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy was first published. In two-volumes, Myrdal explained how a modern democracy like the United States could socially engineer a solution to a perceived racial problem, and in the process, distinguish itself from the Third Reich’s treatment of its so-called “Jewish problem.” Myrdal stated that black Americans were not to blame for the “Negro Problem” and that its solution was not the expulsion or segregation of this group from mainstream society. He shifted his readers’ attention away from ongoing national conversations on black Americans’ “pathology” and moved their awareness towards a newer transatlantic conversation on the pathology of the aggressor. He explained that the “Negro problem” was in the minds of white Americans, and that it was largely a moral dilemma. Myrdal wrote that whites in the United States needed to analyze how their discriminatory behavior towards blacks fell short of the American creed of “liberty, equality, justice, and fair opportunity for everybody” and to correct this behavior. The ever-hopeful social engineer, he urged his readers not only to change their individual actions, but to mobilize the federal government to dismantle institutional segregation and discrimination that subordinated black Americans to white Americans. Only then, Myrdal explained, would white Americans find a solution to their moral crisis—or rather, their “Negro problem.” Two years later, U.S. President Harry S. Truman established a Committee on Civil Rights; and the following December, the Committee published its report, To Secure These Rights, which noted the many restrictions on black Americans, and urged that all Americans should have equal opportunities for education, decent housing, and jobs. Scholars have noted that this 1947 report “adopted the analytical framework and endorsed the conclusions set forth in Gunnar Myrdal’s An American Dilemma, published just three years earlier,”1

Dr. Joseph Foley - Case Western Reserve's Living Legend (P04.005)

Background Dr. Joseph Foley, Professor Emeritus and former Chief of Neurology at Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, is a living legend. Raised in a strict Irish-Catholic household during the Great Depression, he was influenced early in life by colorful Boston politicians and a classic literary training. After earning scholarships to Holy Cross and Harvard Medical School, he treated the wounded on the beaches of Normandy. In 1948, Foley joined Derek Denny-Brown at Boston City Hospital and in 1951 became the Director of the Mallory Pathological Institute. Over the next decade, Foley described benign fasciculation syndrome (Denny-Brown-Foley Disease), the vascular supply of hypothalamus, and with Raymond Adams, coined the term “asterixis” and triphasic waves of hepatic encephalopathy. In 1961, Foley was recruited to Cleveland. Two years later he recruited his former resident Maurice Victor. In contrast to beurecratic chiefs of his time, Foley was constantly visible in wards and clinics, spreading humor, which earned him the reputation as the “silver tongued Irish doctor from Boston”. He could recite poetry of Homer, Yeats, and Joyce ad lib. He once said, “For an Irishman to be listening when he could be talking is a form of perversity”. Yet he set strict academic standards for his well-attired, well-spoken young doctors. From 1963-1965, he served as president of the AAN and from 1974-1975, president of the ANA, retiring in 1980. Joseph Foley, at age of 95, remains a cheerful personality, present at most conferences, and frequently seen at local coffee shops. During a Cleveland local radio interview, when asked of advice, Dr. Foley simply stated, “Make sure you continue to love people and behave in a way that you can be loved”. Dr. Foley lived by his own advice, and let love of humanity guide his practice in neurology and medicine. Disclosure: Dr. Shams has nothing to disclose. Dr. Ashraf has nothing to disclose. Dr. DeGeorgia has received personal compensation for activities with Osram Medical Incorporated as a consultant.

The Many Meanings of D-Day

This essay investigates what D-Day has symbolized for Americans and how and why its meaning has changed over the past six decades. While the commemoration functions differently in U.S. domestic and foreign policies, in both cases it has been used to mark new beginnings. Ronald Reagan launched his “morning again in America” 1984 re-election campaign from the Pointe du Hoc, and the international commemorations on the Normandy beaches since 1990 have been occasions to display the changing face of Europe and the realignment of allies.

American Pediatricians at War: A Legacy of Service

* Abbreviations: AAP — : American Academy of Pediatrics MASH — : Mobile Army Surgical Hospital MEDCAP — : Medical Civic Action Program MILPHAP — : Military Provincial Hospital Assistance Program USARV — : US Army Vietnam USNR — : United States Naval Reserve American pediatricians have gone to war for almost as long as pediatrics has been a specialty. A decade after Jacobi, Osler, and Forchheimer founded the American Pediatric Society in 1888, pediatricians, or “pediatrists” as they were sometimes called, were serving with the American military on foreign soil. Across more than a century of service, the role of pediatricians in armed conflict has often been unclear to military and civilian leaders, fellow physicians, and at times even to members of their own specialty. In a 2003 site inspection of an overseas US military treatment facility, the assistant secretary of defense for health affairs was briefed about pediatricians. “Why would we need pediatricians here?” was his reply. Despite the confusion, every major conflict since the Spanish–American War has witnessed American military pediatricians serving in a variety of roles. From Cuba to Kandahar, the beaches of Normandy to Mosul, the century of service continues around the globe and forms the fabric of the story of America’s uniformed pediatricians today.1–3 At the close of the 19th century, pediatricians played a very different role than in today’s society. Pediatricians were considered specialists rather than primary care providers for children. There were very few pediatricians in America, and they mostly served in large academic centers or in urban hospitals. Because accurate records of medical specialists were not routinely kept at the time of the Spanish–American War, it is unclear how many pediatricians served in the US military during that conflict. Samuel Walter Kelley was one famous pediatrician whose record of service is known. Dr Kelley spent most of his adult life in Cleveland, where he was a professor of diseases of children in the Cleveland College of Physicians and Surgeons. He worked in Cleveland as both a pediatrist and a pediatric surgeon. He … Address correspondence to LTC Mark W. Burnett, Task Force Raider, 6th Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment, Combat Outpost Keating, Nuristan Province, Afghanistan. E-mail: mark.w.burnett{at}us.army.mil