III

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. RES. 317

Expressing the sense of the Senate to congratulate and thank the members

of the United States Armed Forces who participated in the June 6,

1944, D-Day invasion of Europe for forever changing the course of

history by helping bring an end to World War II.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JUNE 7 (legislative day, JUNE 6), 2000

Ms. LANDRIEU submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the

Committee on Armed Services

RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the Senate to congratulate and thank

the members of the United States Armed Forces who

participated in the June 6, 1944, D-Day invasion of

Europe for forever changing the course of history by

helping bring an end to World War II.

Whereas General George C. Marshall, President Roosevelt’s

chief of staff, appointed General Dwight D. Eisenhower,

to the war plans division of the United States Army in

December 1941 and commissioned General Eisenhower to

design an operational scheme for Allied victory in World

War II;

Whereas in January 1943, the plan was adopted and given

the code name Operation ‘‘Overlord’’;
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Whereas the June 6, 1944, invasion of Europe, commonly

known as ‘‘the D-Day invasion’’, was the largest single

assault in the most massive military conflict in history;

Whereas participants in that invasion included 156,000 British, Canadian, and United States servicemembers and approximately 30,000 vehicles and 600,000 tons of supplies,

and those servicemembers, backed by paratroopers and

bombers, stormed a 50-mile stretch of beach in Normandy, France;

Whereas on June 6, 1944, D-Day, and in the seven months

that followed, approximately 3,500,000 British, Canadian, and United States servicemembers embarked for

Europe from Southampton, England;

Whereas approximately 31,000 United States servicemembers

and more than 3,000 vehicles embarked for the D-Day

invasion on 208 vessels at Weymouth and Portland, England;

Whereas between 15,000 and 20,000 tons of bombs were

dropped in support of the D-Day invasion in the 24

hours between the night of June 5 and the night of June

6, 1944;

Whereas landing forces in the D-Day invasion were compelled

to cross more than 200 yards of treacherous beach

blanketed by mines, heavy machine-gun fire, and rifle

fire;

Whereas the D-Day invasion was supported by more than

13,000 fighter, bomber, and transport aircraft, against

which the German Air Force, the Luftwaffe, was able to

deploy fewer than 400 aircraft of all types;

Whereas by June 11, 1944, the invasion force had established

a bridgehead 50 miles wide and 12 miles deep, into which
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were landed 326,547 men, 54,186 vehicles, and 104,428

tons of supplies;

Whereas of the 156,000 British, Canadian, and United

States servicemembers who took part in the initial D-Day

invasion landings, 10,000 were casualties on the first day

of the invasion;

Whereas total United States casualties on D-Day numbered

6,303, including 2,499 casualties among members of two

airborne divisions participating in the invasion;

Whereas those casualties included 1,465 killed in action,

3,184 wounded in action, 1,928 missing in action, and 26

prisoners of war;

Whereas the success of the D-Day invasion was responsible

for starting the liberation of occupied Europe from Nazi

Germany and marked the beginning of the end of World

War II; and

Whereas of the approximately living 25,000,000 United

States veterans, approximately 1,500 die each day of

whom two-thirds are veterans of World War II: Now,

therefore, be it

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate to con2 gratulate and thank the members of the United States

3 Armed Forces who participated in the June 6, 1944, D4 Day invasion of Europe for forever changing the course

5 of history by helping bring an end to World War II.

Æ