D-DAY

 

“Montross, Down Westmoreland Way”

Column by Ada Stuart Holland in the Potomac Interest, June 8, 1944

 

As I write this column on Tuesday, June 6, our ears are filled with the latest news of the invasion coming in on the radio. We have long waited for this news. Now D-Day is here, and our men are engaged in the greatest struggle of all times. Here in Westmoreland County the sun is shining, a soft breeze is blowing, and only the sound of birds and fowls disturbs the peace of a beautiful summer day. Over there, they are fighting fiercely for liberation, so that all men everywhere may enjoy this peace and beauty. Their way will be hard and costly—here our hardship is sit and wait, hope and pray that it will soon be over, and they, our men, will be back again. Our prayers are with them, our hearts are with them, and we know they will not fail.

 

Humanity with all its fears,
With all its hopes of future years,
Is hanging breathless on thy fate!
 
Our hearts, our hopes, are all with
     thee,
Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers,
     our tears,
Our faith triumphant o’er our
     fears.

Are all with thee—are all with

     thee! 

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Ada’s husband, Elton, was in England. He was an Engineer Officer on General Eisenhower’s planning staff for the invasion. With Ada was their young son, who a few weeks before had reached his first birthday. 

D-Day in Normandy was a major event in the war, but much else was also happening. On June 15, nine days after the landings in Normandy, on the other side of the world, U.S. Marines of the 2nd and 4th Divisions waded ashore on Saipan, in the Mariana Islands. The Army’s 27th Division came ashore the next day. Saipan fell on July 9, and its neighboring island of Tinian fell on August 1. From Saipan and Tinian, particularly Tinian, B-29 raids were soon underway against the home islands of Japan. 

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Here endeth the history lesson.