Today, June 6, marks the 75th anniversary of World War II’s Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Western Europe, which was held primarily by the Nazis. Soldiers, sailors, and airmen from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada conducted the largest amphibious assault in military history. They spilled ashore, in some places under constant bombardment, on the beaches of Normandy, France. They fell from the sky behind enemy lines, often scattered and without equipment. Against a confused but resolute enemy, they established a beachhead at great cost.

The equipment and logistics required were staggering. The United States brought 450,000 tons of ammunition into Britain to prepare for the attack. 17 million maps were produced in preparation. 11,590 aircraft flew 14,674 sorties in support of the invasion. The planes dropped 23,400 paratroopers. 6,939 naval vessels sailed toward Normandy, including 4,126 landing ships.

The Normandy Invasion was a success by any measure. By D-Day +5 (June 11), Allies had unloaded 326,547 troops, 54,186 vehicles, and 104,428 tons of supplies. Already staggering under Russia’s ferocity in the East, the Germans could not withstand a war on both ends of a continent. The Western Front was now joined. D-Day marked the beginning of the end of the European Theater of World War II.

The victory was purchased with blood. From June 6 to June 25, 1944, there were approximately 425,000 total casualties in Normandy. On the first day alone, Americans suffered 2,499 dead, 3,184 wounded, 1,928 missing, and 26 captured by the enemy. The beaches of Normandy were soaked with sacrifice.

Every American should take a pilgrimage to the cemetery that overlooks those beaches. The simple, white markers overwhelm and suffocate. The rows are perfectly symmetrical and the grounds are meticulously groomed. The 9,380 Americans who rest there are broken monuments, cut down in the morning of life. Film and pictures do not bend to the gravity of the place. The toll of the dead is best paid in person as you walk across their graves and read their names. Stand so that you see their markers cut against the blue sea and brown beaches that swallowed them.

Honor them not just on this day, which is but a commemoration. Honor them every day. Honor them when you think of the land they bequeathed you and the legacy of duty they planted on those hallowed grounds. What will you do to leave their nation a better place? Grappling with that question is the first mark of citizenship, a birth into a fragile community that must work to deserve these heroes.