From The Lowell (MA) Sun, 2/2/2010

[revwardoc]

A letter to the president

Dear Mr. President,
Regarding your State of the Union speech the other night. With all due respect, sir, I know you have gaps in your knowledge when it comes to the United States and its role in World War II. I also understand that you were not born when the war took place, so it is understandable that you might commit an error or two when you talk about it, despite your stellar Harvard education. (Do they teach World War II at Harvard? Or do theyjust teach about wars we lost?) It sort of reininds me of when young reporters beg off knowledge about past historical events by saying, "I was not born then," or, I wasn't there when that happened.' To which I reply, ,,I wasn't around when Rome fell, but I know something
about it."

But I digress.

You opened your speech by pointing out how for more than 200 years the president has
addressed Congress on the State ofthe Union. Even during times of stress and struggle, like during the Civil War and World War II. "But when the Union was turned back at Bull
Run and theAllies first landed at Omaha Beach, victory was very much in doubt," you said.

That may be true. But, Mr. President. the Allies, strictly speaking, did not land on Omaha
Beach. The Americans did. The Allies - the British and the Canadians - landed elsewhere
at Normandy. It may be a small thing, perhaps an oversight on your part or on the part of your speech writers. Surely, you know better since you visited Normandy Beach on the 65th anniversary of the invasion on June 6, 2009.

It seems to me, though, that it is important for a president to get the small things right, particularly if you are using the small things to build up to the elaborate and sweeping changes you still intend to force upon the country, despite growing opposition.

While our Allies in World War II, the British and the Canadians - did join us in the attack on
the strong German defenses at Normandy, only Americans stormed the bloody piece of land
known as Omaha Beach at Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Omaha Beach is where the most men were killed during that long and painful day.

Many of the Americans killed during that day are still there, Mr. President - almost 10,000 of
them, buried row upon row at theAmerican military cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer. The
cemetery is on a bluff that overlooks Omaha Beach. It is a place that grabs you by the heart.

There were five separate invasions on the stretch of the French coast called Normandy that
day - Omaha and Utah by the Americans, "Gold and Sword by the British, and Juno by the Canadians. Omaha, totally an American affair, was by far the hardest and most costly of the attacks. For the longest time that day it appeared that it might end in failure.

First to set foot in Normandy inland from the beach called Omaha were the men of the 82nd
Airborne Division who parachuted inland into German lines. Then the untested 29th Infantry
Division landed and ran into a devastating hail of German machine gun and mortar fire. One
main problem was thatAmerican bombers failed to bomb the beach and create bomb craters
where soldiers could seek protection. Instead the men were caught out in the open beach and suffered dearly.

The battle-hardened veterans ofthe 1st Infantry Division (North Africa and Sicily) followed in and met much the same fate as lhe soldiers of the 29th. Meanwhile nine companies of
the Army's U.S. Rangers landed and climbed the sheer cliffs at Pointe du Hoc to get at the German guns that were thought to be there. It was a very hard, very long day.

The invasion to free France from German occupation doubtlessly could not have succeeded had not the British and the Canadians taken part in the D-Day invasion. But there were no Aliies on Omaha Beach (or Utah) that day, only Americans.

It rnaybe a small thing to you and your advisers, few of whom have served in the military. But you are the president, and you are the commander in chief of all American military forces. So perhaps you should know this. If you took the time to learn how to salute
when you get on and off the presidential helicopter, it seems reasonable to me that you get the invasion of Normandy right.