Remembering the Heroes of June 6, 1944

On Veterans Day of 2020, I wrote in our CEObuilder newsletter a brief article entitled Hang Tough! It was a tribute to Lieutenant Richard D. Winters, the commander of Easy Company of the 2^nd Battalion, 506^th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101^st Airborne Division of the US Army, who parachuted into Normandy in the early hours of D-Day, June 6, 1944. His story is featured in the book by Stephen E. Ambrose, Band of Brothers, which is also a highly acclaimed television mini-series. He, and his “band of brothers” made critical, heroic battlefield contributions on June 6, 1944, and in the days that followed.

When I shared my thoughts in that article of November of 2020, I noted that because of the COVID-19 pandemic, my wife and I were unable to take our planned 50th wedding anniversary trip to Europe, wherein we had planned to include time at Normandy to pay our respects to the Allied soldiers who  had fallen there. Although that event was necessarily postponed, last September we were able to make the trip. It was with deep reverence that we walked the same ground where so many courageous men came ashore in the cause of freedom. Our time there included visits to the town of St. Mere Eglise, Utah Beach, Pointe du Hoc, Omaha Beach, and the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial. And, we were able to see the statue erected to honor Dick Winters near Utah Beach.

Of all the holidays that we celebrate, I am most impacted by the ones that remind us of those who have given so much to bless our lives. This starts with the birth, life, sacrificial death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But it also includes those holidays that honor the men and women who sacrificed their lives so that we might enjoy the liberties that we, as freedom loving people, so often take for granted. Those include Independence Day, Veterans Day, and Memorial Day.

The most recent of these three, Memorial Day, is particularly significant to me. My father, Lt. Col. Herbert G. Tyson, was a veteran of three wars: World War II, the Korean War, and the war in Vietnam. He was a prisoner of war in WWII, captured by the Imperial Japanese forces in the Philippines. He was part of the horrific Bataan Death March. He survived three and one-half years as a POW in multiple prison camps in the Philippines and in Japan. He and my dear mother are buried in the National Cemetery at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. They are sterling examples of what has come to be known as “the Greatest Generation.”

Their generation, like all others, was not perfect, but their love of God, family, and country is well worth remembering, enshrining, and emulating. So, on this anniversary of the Normandy landing, I want to express my deepest love, respect, and gratitude for all those–from the American Revolution forward who have given their last full measure of devotion to what we enjoy today. As Americans, we readily recognize and often criticize the imperfections of our nation, and it is a worthy cause to righteously strive to address them. But let us never forget the extraordinary price that has been paid to allow us to do so.

Over the years since D-Day, the surviving men of Easy Company have shared many memories of Lieutenant Winters. Perhaps the most concise and simple of those was his consistent rallying cry as their leader, “Hang Tough!”  As we each continue to move forward in the days ahead, and in memory of this American hero and so many others, I’m taking the liberty to borrow his words as good counsel for us all: In remembering, honoring, and standing with one another in defense of our freedoms as Americans, HANG TOUGH!