By the large scale nature of modern warfare, many veterans never get the recognition they deserve. Consider, for example, the First Special Service Force (FSSF), an elite American-Canadian unit created for dangerous missions behind enemy lines. At Fort Harrison in Montana, they trained in stealth combat, parachuting, night missions, and winter warfare. Their first major campaign proved a perfect match for the training.
In early December, 1943, at Italy’s Monte la Difensa, FSSF forces hiked ten miles in wet conditions then scaled a 300-foot cliff in the dead of night. In a fierce battle, the FSSR swept the entrenched, better-equipped Nazis from the high ground. By the middle of January, the Allied advance could proceed north. The FSSF fought at Anzio, a rehearsal for D-Day, and took part in the liberation of Rome. These brave men contributed more to the Allied victory than most people know.
Near 80 years later, anti-Semitism is raging across Europe, with what amounts to a pogrom in the Netherlands as Muslim mobs hunt down Jews in Amsterdam. This comes on the anniversary of Kristallnacht, but for left-wing coincidence theorists it’s all happenstance. In the wake of 10/7, calls ring out for a second holocaust. On Ivy League campuses, officials can’t decide whether calls for genocide of the Jews violates their codes of conduct. These events convey some idea of what the WWII vets were fighting against.
Knowledge of WWII is now on the level of Roger De Bris, who suddenly realizes that the Third Reich meant Germany. There hasn’t been much improvement since Mel Brooks’ 1967 film. In September 1989, on the fiftieth anniversary of Hitler’s invasion of Poland, a radio announcer in Los Angeles said “it was a new kind of warfare, lightning war, or ‘Luftwaffe.’”
In 2024 leftist Democrats find it fashionable to call Donald Trump Hitler, with Anne Applebaum of the Atlantic tacking on Stalin and Mussolini. That would surprise the vets who took down the national socialist menace. On November 11 and all through the year, thank them for their service.
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