THE PRIDE OF OUR NATION "Pride of Our Nation" (June 1944 -
August 1944) - By June 1944, there are signs on both sides of
the world that the tide of the war is turning. On June 6, 1944 -
D-Day - a million and a half Allied troops embark on the
invasion of France. Among them are Dwain Luce of Mobile, who
drops behind enemy lines in a glider; Quentin Aanenson of
Luverne, who flies his first combat mission over the Normandy
coast; and Joseph Vaghi of Waterbury, who manages to survive the
disastrous landing on Omaha Beach, where German resistance
ravages the American forces in the bloodiest day in American
history since the Civil War. But the Allies succeed in tearing a
45-mile gap in Hitler's vaunted Atlantic Wall. Bogged down in
the Norman hedgerows, facing German troops determined to make
them pay for every inch of territory they gain, the Allies for
months measure their progress in yards and suffer far greater
casualties than expected. In the Pacific, the long climb from
island to island toward the Japanese ho