It was unknowable then, but so much of the progress that would define the 20th century, on both sides of the Atlantic, came down to the battle for a slice of beach only six miles long and two miles wide.
"Obama on D-Day: 'The Evil We Faced Had to Be Stopped'" by Karen Travers, Jake Tapper, Sunlen Miller, abcnews.go.com. June 6, 2009.