Letter: Denigrating soldiers' sacrifice
An unidentified visitor walks past graves at the American cemetery, in Colleville-sur-Mer, western France. (June 6, 2007) Credit: AP
A recent letter asked the question, "Was D-Day the decisive battle?" [June 13]. The letter proposed that it was the Russian onslaught rapidly moving west that assured the Allied victory. I disagree.
The Russian military machine took a massive beating before D-Day. The infamous Murmansk Run and pre-Dec. 7, 1941, shipments of war materials through the Iranian ports provided the Soviets with the needed war supplies to ensure their ability to stave off the Nazi military, until the arrival of the Allied forces in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, southern France and Normandy.
Does the writer believe that those other military actions were also of questionable value? He has damaged, hurt and degraded the memories of those American and Allied soldiers' families who lost loved ones in those battles.
I was only 13 on D-Day. The much needed moral boost that it provided to the free world goes without description.
Eugene Biegel, Plainview
