Much Respect for the D-Day Generation

The United States honors the 75th anniversary of D-Day on Thursday. More accurately, the free world celebrates this anniversary. Without exaggeration, the men who both risked and gave their lives on that fateful day quite literally saved the world as we know it.

As surviving World War II veterans become more and more scarce, it is vital to remember just how heroic this generation really was. Even those that weren't actively fighting overseas were making sacrifices to win the war. In addition to the obvious hardships of having a family member fighting in Europe or in the Asian Pacific, there were rations on things we take for granted. Groceries, rubber, paper, and shoes were in short supply because these things were all being used for the war effort.

In those days, women working outside of the home was a rarity. It was a different time. For those women, it must have been unnerving to leave their families and homes to do something they had never been put into the position of doing. They were thrust into factories to build Jeeps and to assemble guns. After the war came to an end, it was eventually this group of women that turned the tide of women in the workplace.

The entire country was one big war machine. It had to be. Failure was not an option, and that is exactly how the "Greatest Generation" behaved.

I read an article that featured a worldwide survey of current Generation Z workers which indicated that they view adults 79-94 as the "least hardworking generation of all time."

In my opinion, nothing could be further from the truth. The World War II generation followed up 10 years of the Great Depression with six years of a gruesome war. And they did it all without cell phones or video games. If that doesn't make you hard working and tough, I don't know what does.

I don't know how else to say it: they were total badasses. Much respect to the D-Day generation.