Op-eds

Throughout my 23 years of military service, I’ve made a few dozen parachute jumps — but none of them compared to the jump I made in Normandy this week. Last week marked 75 years since Allied Forces invaded German-occupied France, a military operation which paved the way for the end of World War II. On that day in June 1944, over 160,000 men took part in what was at the time the most complex military operation ever conceived. It was a massive undertaking and the stakes were high.

This week, hundreds of veterans, including myself, paid tribute to our brave soldiers by making the same jump those Allied paratroopers made in Normandy 75 years ago. Many were military veterans, some as old as 97, all there to honor our World War II heroes.

I was actually pretty lucky to even complete the jump. From the planes breaking down, to not having a parachute and bad weather on top of that, there were a lot of points of failure. For a while I wasn’t sure it was going to work out.

When I eventually did make the jump, I landed near a cheering crowd full of French villagers, who waved flags and treated our World War II veterans like rock stars.

I realized I still had many privileges our veteran forefathers didn’t. Our World War II veterans received no cheers or excitement that early June morning.

Conditions were much worse. It was nighttime and it was dark. Paratroopers were weighed down by hundreds of pounds of gear. The wind was blowing hard, sending many of them miles off course — and they were being shot at. To say the invasion was tough going is a huge understatement.

Yet they still persisted and pressed on, never losing focus. Regardless of age, socioeconomic background or political party, our military never took their eyes off their goal to liberate the people suffering under the tyranny of the Nazi regime.

They were in the fight for freedom together.

That same spirit of our military hasn’t changed — and I was glad to celebrate it with fellow veteran Rep. Jason Crow, a Democrat from Colorado. We come from different sides of the political aisle but we both share Army experience — I’m a Green Beret and he’s a former Ranger. This weekend, as veterans, we united on the same mission: to celebrate our World War II veterans’ service and sacrifice for freedom.

Seventy-five years may have passed since D-Day but the ethos of our military remains the same. Our bipartisan jump embodied the spirit of our military, all joined together for a common cause.

As my parachute opened and I glided above Saint-Mere Eglise, I surveyed the vast countryside and remembered the sacrifices those men made for all of us. When my feet hit the ground and I looked over the same field and walked on the same paths those Allied heroes walked on, I couldn’t help but stop for a moment to take it in.

This was hallowed ground, where so many laid down their youth and their lives for peace and prosperity for future generations — for all of us.

I was honored to meet some of those same men who fought in the Battle of Normandy while I was in France this weekend. These men have never forgotten that day when they joined their brothers in arms to fight for the greater good.

I wake up every day determined to be worthy of their sacrifice and of the sacrifices of the men in my own command. We owe it to them to never give up our pursuit for a better world.

https://www.news-journalonline.com/opinion/20190612/us-rep-mike-waltz--participating-in-normandy-reenactment-reminds-us-of-unified-military-spirit