D-Day - June 6, 1944 (80 Year Anniversary)

When 160,000 Allied Soldiers landed that early morning on Normandy beaches, countries already in Nazi Germany's grip included Czechoslovakia, Austria, Poland, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, The Netherlands, France, The Channel Islands and Northern Italy. 5,000 to over 10,000 allied soldiers were lost in D-Day's carefully planned invasion, and casualties continued as allied regiments moved through France. But in less than a year, Nazi Germany surrendered.

It's heartbreaking to think of those men, many teenagers and early twenty year olds, on the beaches that morning. But as the war had continued and the cruelty and devastation of the Nazis were repeatedly realized, many allies became eager to enlist. The Allies "saved the world."

The D-Day beaches have become a symbol of "the price of peace in the world."

D-Day was the beginning of the end of the last World War. But unfortunately, conflict is an inherent to our nature. Now two significant wars and the rise of authoritarianism threaten the precarious balance in the world. From local to national levels, we need honorable democratic leaders who are more concerned about the welfare of the world, the country and its inhabitants than their own personal self-interests.