Five years, ago, on the 70th anniversary of D-Day, I posted a letter written by my friend and D-Day veteran Bill Kays to President Obama. In it, Bill asked Obama to pay tribute to the sacrifices of the Soviets on the Eastern Front, without whose efforts Bill probably would have been killed by Nazi defenders on Omaha Beach. I am sad to report that Bill died on September 9, 2018. One of the best ways we can pay tribute to his memory and his sacrifices is to work toward building a more peaceful world so that no one ever has to face the horror that he did on Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944.

Today’s Russian-American relations are even worse than when that post was first written five years ago and, as Bill notes in his letter to President Obama, “Humiliating Germany after the First World War played a key role in Hitler’s rise to power. Humiliating Russia today increases tensions which can lead to confrontation – possibly even a Third World War.”

With that update, here’s a link to the original post, including Bill’s letter to the president and background information explaining how we know Bill is in this iconic photo of the landing on Omaha Beach – and which he is.

Martin Hellman