I read Susan Trask’s May 21 letter, “Reflecting on D-Day, I fear for our democracy,” with great interest — having recently returned from an eight-day trip to Normandy. While I agree with many parts of her letter, some correction is in order.

The Allied code names for the five beaches along the 50-mile stretch of Normandy coast targeted for the D-Day landings were Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword. Omaha — at nearly 6 miles long — was the longest and most costly in casualties. The beach is dominated by high ground, providing defenders with ideal topography where concrete bunkers with heavy machine guns and artillery lay.

By the evening of June 6, 1944, nearly 34,000 troops had landed at Omaha. Ms. Trask stated that only 5,000 survived that first day at Omaha. Most sources, however, indicate that there were approximately 2,400 casualties (killed, wounded or missing), leaving approximately 31,600 troops who survived the landing.

The Battle of Normandy would wage on until Aug. 30, 1944, with the liberation of Paris. Taking a wider view, there were approximately 210,000 Allied casualties, with nearly 37,000 ground forces killed, plus an additional 16,000 deaths among Allied air forces.

Normandy is beautiful, serene and peaceful, a stark contrast to the great upheaval and turmoil of the day. The time I spent in Normandy was truly sobering and also filled me with a great sense of gratitude for the immense courage and sacrifice of those who landed that fateful day of June 6, 1944.

Capt. Lee M. Tabenken, USN (ret.)
Falmouth