Normandy: Remembering
Leadership and Its Legacy
T
By Abigail Oleighia Woosley and Gerald Morris
2013 Normandy Institute Team
McLean County High School, Calhoun, Kentucky
wo thousand and fourteen represents the 70th anniversary of one of the great turning points in history, D-Day. Operation
Overlord involved taking five beaches on the Northern coast of France in June 1944, a battle that pitted the might of
Nazi Germany against Americans, British, Free French, Poles, and other allies, with the freedom of the world’s citizens
riding on the results. From U.S. Army General Dwight D. Eisenhower to the lowliest private storming the beaches, each individual
involved had to show courage and commitment in the face of very long odds.
There were no guarantees on the morning of June 6, 1944. U.S. Army General Dwight D. Eisenhower was so uncertain of the
outcome beforehand that he had written a speech in which he took complete blame for its failure. The invasion’s ultimate
success provides many valuable leadership lessons. It is the kind of courageous leadership shown by the D-Day invaders that the
Normandy Institute strives to commemorate, and also inspire in today’s students and teachers.
A LCVP (Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel) from the U.S. Coast Guard-manned USS Samuel Chase disembarks troops of the U.S. Army’s First Division
on the morning of June 6, 1944 at Omaha Beach. (Photo courtesy of Robert F. Sargent, U.S. Coast Guard)
40
NATIONAL HISTORY DAY 2015