Richard Littledale's
Views on the News: June 2004

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As the eyes of the world have turned again to Normandy for the 60th anniversary of the allied landings, the fingers (pens?) of many have turned to the sixty-year old debate about the meaning of the d in d day. Views would like to add its own contributions here...

D is for determination, derring-do and downright courage.

D is for decisive, desperate and dangerous.

D is for disembarkation, and deliverance.

D is for duplex-drive, dummy airfields and deception.

D is also for distorted freedom. It is a curious kind of liberty which sees French citizens in villages close to Arromanches told to leave their homes completely or stay indoors so that the world's leaders can attend the ceremony in complete safety. Is this the kind of freedom for which so many died? Whilst the security concerns are quite understandable, it seems as if one enemy has been defeated simply to cower before another.

Finally, D is for deception (self). In stirring words the great leaders of many nations sounded the same note over the D-day weekend - we must make the most of the freedom which others have purchased on our behalf. In a new, and more united Europe, many peoples must learn to live together in a way which honours the past and shores up the future. These are sentiments which no-one could deny. However, the greatest menace to freedom and humanity lies in the human heart. Wars between nations, like fights between children, tend to start because someone wants what is not theirs! The only kind of Europe which is free forever from the threat of war is one where every European has buried their selfishness forever. The Gospel of Jesus Christ, which transformed the face of Europe centuries ago, needs to do so again.

Of course the "d" debate is not really a debate at all. "D" stood simply for "day", as did "H" for "hour" and "J" for "jour". It was the day everyone had been waiting for with a mixture of excitement, dread and hope. Many Christians, in many languages, will be praying to God that Europeans hear again the Bible's promise that "now is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6 v 2).