Being the anniversary of D Day, do you feel the youth of today really understand the true significance?

Hell no. It's just another date to them. I find that even some junior service members don't realize the significance of today. I think a large part of it has to do with the dwindling number of remaining soldiers that served in that time. People recognize Vietnam and Korea more than WWII because we have a generation who lived in that time period. It was on their TVs and in their day-to-day conversation.

Good question but you may be surprised with how many of our youth today are interested in the WWII generation. I have seen first hand college students who are attending our BC Veterans Events on campus and asking us old veterans tons of questions about our service. Sadly a lot of them had a grand dad or grand uncle who never talked about their years in WWII or Korea and have passed on without leaving behind much about any of their service years.

Unfortunately they don't due in part to our education system and parenting. I grew up in a family with a rich military tradition going back to the Civil War in America and back to the Napoleonic Wars in Europe, so I was taught the battles and histories and traditions that my ancestors had. When I was in school, very few of my classmates has any knowledge of World War 2 other than the fact that we won it and that Adolf Hitler was a National Socialist. Even after "learning" from our teacher, there was little explanation of the build up to DDay such as Operation Torch or the training of Commonwealth and American service members for the battle. My teacher personally skipped over the importance of the glider and airborne soldiers in securing the beach head. One man I admire very much so, is my Great Grandfather. USA(Dec) TEC5 Thomas Blair served in the 18th Infantry Regiment and as GEN Omar Bradley's personal driver in the European Theatre. I grew up listening to his stories, sometimes not believing what he was saying. His vivid recollections of fighting at Omaha where he earned a Purple Heart and further fighting inland when he earned his CIB and a Bronze Star have shaped me into the soldier and citizen I am today. I learned that without men willing to participate in the largest invasion force ever assembled, that life as we know it may be completely different. Liberties that we take granted would be gone. Freedom of the press, freedom of religion, the right to have fraternal organizations, the right to marry and procreate with whoever you want to. and many others would most likely not be available to us. If we had lost that battle, historians have estimated that a peace treaty between the Western Allies and Germany would have ensued, leaving Germany to fight a one front war instead of a three front war. This heightens their chances of conquering the Russians or beating them badly enough to sue for a peace settlement. It would have allowed more time for German rocket, aero, and nuclear engineers to finish weapons projects that could project the reach of German military might.