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A Trip to Normandy: BAMC physician participates in historic D-Day 80th anniversary parachute jump
June 26, 2024 — A prior trip to Normandy France for the 75th anniversary of D-Day inspired a Brooke Army Medical Center interventional radiologist to fulfill a longtime goal of jumping again... MORE

80 years ago, National Guard units played key role in D-Day landings
June 6, 2024 — The focus for most Soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment, Virginia Army National Guard, was simply making it across the beach — Omaha Beach — as part of the first wave of the Normandy landings, or the D-Day landings, as they have become widely known... MORE

The build-up of Omaha Beach. Reinforcements of men and equipment moving inland. Photo courtesy of Center of Military History.

History Today, June 6: The role of signals intelligence or 'ULTRA' on D-Day
June 6, 2024 — The term D-Day was a shorthand expression first used in World War I to denote the date an operation was to be launched. In the earlier war, officers also used H-HOUR and M-MINUTE, but these were seldom used in World War II. Because of the scope of the 1944 operation and the momentous stakes, in common parlance, “D-Day” has come to refer primarily to the landings in Normandy. ... MORE

U.S. Soldiers disembark a landing craft under heavy fire off the coast of Normandy, France, June 6, 1944. (Photo Credit: National Archives U.S. Coast Guard Collection)

Navy Medicine at D-Day: Stories of valor and sacrifice
June 6, 2023 — From D-Day of June 6, 1944, to the end of the battle on August 30, 1944, Navy Medicine played an unsung but vital role in what Gen. Dwight Eisenhower termed the “Great Crusade.”... MORE

Navy medical personnel help evacuate wounded soldiers at Normandy, June 1944.

Weather prime factor in D-Day and even more important in warfare today
June 6, 2023 — The D-Day landings in Normandy on June 6, 1944, marked the beginning of the end of World War II in Europe. Few people realize that weather was the deciding factor in the timing of the momentous landings... MORE

The D-Day landings in Normandy on 6 June 1944 marked the beginning of the end of World War II in Europe. Few people realize that weather was the deciding factor in the timing of the momentous landings. The Sixteenth Air Force’s (16 AF) 557th Weather Wing (WW) played an active role in Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s, the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, decision on the evening of 4 June to postpone the largest amphibious operation in human history for 24 hours. The 557 WW, then known as the Army Air Forces Weather Wing, part of a British-American Meteorological team, issued a forecast on 4 June that called for unfavorable conditions for landings on 5 June with marginal conditions for 6 June. After much discussion, the SACEUR made the fortuitous decision to move the landings to 6 June. Today, as the United States, it allies, and the West face new threats in Europe and the Pacific, 16 AF (AFCYBER), the USAF’s Information Warfare (IW) Numbered Air Force leads the on-going fight in the Competition Continuum. Just as it was nearly eight decades ago, weather is still a prime factor in IW.

On D-Day Anniversary, Austin, Milley call on all to defend democracy
June 6, 2023 — The men who stormed Normandy 79 years ago saved democracy "and it is all of our duty to defend with undimmed vigor the principles for which the Allies fought," Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III said June 6... MORE

A group of World War II veterans and others, some seated, others standing, salute and pay respects during a ceremony.

GIs remember D-day, 75 years later
June 6, 2019 — As the sun rose on Utah Beach June 6, 1944, the explosions were deafening. "There was all kinds of fire coming down on us," said then-Cpl. Herman Zeitchik, who served with the 42nd Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Infantry Division. He was hunkered down in a landing craft with about 30 other Soldiers. ... MORE

U.S. Soldiers disembark a landing craft under heavy fire off the coast of Normandy, France, June 6, 1944.

Women's History Month: Saving lives as World War II flight nurse
March 13, 2019 — As a flight nurse during World War II, 1st Lt. Madeline “Del” D’Eletto, saw some of her first action transporting Soldiers wounded in D-Day landings back to Great Britain via aeromedical evacuation... MORE

U.S. Army Air Corps flight nurse 1st Lt. Madeline “Del” D’Eletto comforts three wounded soldiers on a flight from the east coast of the U.S. to a Texas hospital.