Res. No. 844

Resolution recognizing the 75^th anniversary of D-Day.

By Council Members Cabrera, Vallone, Holden and Eugene

                     Whereas, On June 6, 1944, more than 156,000 American, British, and Canadian soldiers landed on five beaches in Normandy, code-named Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword; and

                     Whereas, A report from the United States Army noted that more than 5,000 ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the invasion; and

                     Whereas, According to a White House factsheet published on the 70^th anniversary of D-Day, air cover was a significant component of the offensive, as more than 2,200 allied bombers attacked enemy targets both along the coast and inland; and

                     Whereas, The Allies had been planning this invasion, code-named Operation Overlord, since the summer of 1943; and

                     Whereas, To assist the Normandy landing, the U.S. and Great Britain cooperated on Operation Bodyguard, in which they fed false information to double agents, fabricated radio chatter, and used dummy tanks to mislead Germany about the likely location of the attack; and

                     Whereas, The US National D-Day Memorial Foundation has found that at least 4,400 Allied personnel were killed that day; and

                     Whereas, Despite these casualties, the invasion was a major success because it enabled the Allies to establish five beachheads in Normandy; and

                     Whereas, D-Day marked the beginning of the final phase of World War II, in which the Allies drove the Nazis out of Western Europe before accepting their surrender on May 8^th, 1945; and                       

                     Whereas, D-Day memorials exist in both the U.S. and the U.K., and more than 9,300 American soldiers are buried at a military cemetery in Normandy; and

                     Whereas, New York has a proud military tradition; and

                     Whereas, It is not only the home of the United States Military Academy at West Point, but also the location of the battle of Saratoga, which was a major turning point in the Revolutionary War; and

                     Whereas, New York has produced a long line of distinguished military officers, from Alexander Hamilton to Rufus King and Colin Powell, and more than 900,000 New Yorkers served in the Second World War; and

                     Whereas, On June 6, 1944, Americans of all races and creeds, hailing from all fifty states, made heroic sacrifices in order to preserve America’s highest ideals and rid the world of tyranny; and

                     Whereas, The planning and execution of the Normandy landing deserves the highest civic reverence and recognition, so that each successive generation of Americans remembers that freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction; now, therefore, be it

                     Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York recognizes the 75^th anniversary of D-Day

LS#10013

3/19/19

MK