So tweeted Dan Snow this morning (British historian and TV presenter), the 70th anniversary of D-Day.

The photo shows US troops in an LCVP (Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel) landing craft approaching Omaha Beach on D-Day, 6 June 1944.

Some 150,000 Allied soldiers were involved in the D-Day landings across 5 different landing zones, together with airborne landings starting the night before.

The opening 20 minutes or so of the Tom Hanks film Saving Private Ryan apparently gives a very realistic idea of what it was like for those brave soldiers disembarking 70 years ago this morning at what proved to be the beginning of the end of the Second World War.

We would do well to remember those brave men, and to be thankful for the freedoms that we enjoy today because of their courage and sacrifice.

Image attribution:
By DVIDSHUB (Reflection on D-Day) [CC-BY-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons. Wikimedia page here