Those who are true Americans and students of history will recognize the title of this missive immediately.
There will be some who would read this title and think about a day without cell service.
The title refers to the 1962 all-star cast movie that detailed the D-Day invasion from the Allied and German perspectives.
It is a memorable film and grips the viewer without the added Hollywood effects of "Saving Private Ryan." This week marks the 82nd anniversary of Operation Overlord, the largest military amphibious operation in history, the Normandy invasion.
It was something that everyone knew had to happen: the invasion of Europe to dislodge and ultimately defeat Nazi Germany.
And to this day, the people of the Cotentin peninsula remember and honor the sacrifices of those who gave their lives for their liberation.
For the third year in a row, I will be going to Normandy for the D-Day remembrance.
It is special to me as a veteran who served in combat with the First and Fourth Infantry Divisions.
It was the First Division that was given the mission of taking Easy and Fox sectors of Omaha Beach, also known as "Bloody Omaha." The Fourth Infantry Division had the mission of Utah beach, and it was famously led ashore by the son of President Teddy Roosevelt, Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt Jr., a man stricken with arthritis, but he came ashore carrying his service pistol and cane.
I am also a U.S.
Army Master Parachutist and served with units that can be traced to airborne and glider artillery units that jumped into the Normandy drop zones.
For the past two years, I have jumped into the same DZs from C-47 aircraft that dropped our paratroopers eight decades ago.
Last year, I dropped into St.
Martin de Varreville, just inland from Utah beach, which was secured by Pathfinders of the 101st Airborne Division.
Unfortunately, I will not be able to jump this year due to hip replacement surgery last December.
Regardless, there is something special about being in Normandy for the D-Day remembrance, and something even more special for me.
For the second straight year, in conjunction with the Young America's Foundation, I will be taking 25 campus conservative student leaders to Normandy.
Some of these young men and women have never been out of the country.
Imagine this being your first trip outside the continental United States.
I recall last year's trip and the emotional impact it had on these students, especially when they got to see and shake hands with men who had hit those beaches and drop zones, as well as those who scaled the sheer cliffs of Pointe du Hoc.
They stood there near the place where President Ronald Reagan gave his "Boys of Pointe du Hoc" speech, and participants reenacted it.
They got an opportunity to touch history, legacy, and experience the men who were members of our "Greatest Generation," as Tom Brokaw would name them.
When those students set foot on Omaha beach, walking upon that hallowed ground in Dog Sector, where the Rangers and 29th Infantry Division were brutally savaged by German machine gun and mortar fire, there was....
