[Talisker]

“His Holiness Pope Francis unites himself wholeheartedly to the intercession of those who commemorate the tragic events which occurred here seventy years ago, and prays for peace,” read the letter sent June 6 by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, to Bishop Jean-Claude Boulanger of Bayeux (-Lisieux), in whose territory the Normandy landing occurred.

Beggin' pardon and all, but those weren't "tragic events."

They made up one of humanity's finest days, in which literally satanic evil was fought and defeated, and the beginning of freedom was established for hundreds of millions of people.

"Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends."

- John 15:13

[aposiopetic]

You're right about the valor displayed and the value of the ultimate sacrifice made by these brave men. When I was a kid, I read and re-read the stories of D-Day on account of the bravery displayed as well as the brilliant planning and unprecedented logistics.

That said, don't you think it could reasonably be viewed as tragic if 13,000 sons, brothers and dads never returned home, just because some bigoted socialist megalomaniac and his thug buddies had managed to highjack a country that was down on its luck, take over much of a continent and menace the whole world?