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May 22, 2013

John Thorne: They launched the 'Arab Spring' but now yearn for the good old days of a strongman

John Rosemond: 'Disciplinary math' adds up to parental successl

Warren Richey: Are prayers before public meetings OK? Supreme Court to decide
Rick Montgomery: Use of ADHD drugs as study aid raises concern on campuses

Brierley Wright, M.S., R.D.: 6 convincing reasons you should keep carbs in your diet

Eoin O'Carroll: Scientists examine nothing, find something

The Kosher Gourmet by Carole Kotkin: This soup is made from one of the great pleasures of spring: A wonderful pairing of rosy color and earthy tang

May 20, 2013

Richard A. Serrano: Is Meir Kahane's assassin now a changed man?

Hannan Adely: Town raises Palestinian flag at City Hall

Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Morgan Housel: When smart investors do stupid things

Sharon Saloman, M.S., R.D.: Hunger games: Eat more, weigh less, without starving

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star

The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting

May 13, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation

David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church

Emily Alpert: Recession dragged down birth rates for less-educated women
Morgan Housel: The deep downside of home ownership

Peter Teffer: Will Dutch police soon be stalking cybercriminals on your computer?

Heidi McIndoo, M.S., R.D.: Meatless 'meat' can have its own set of problems

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Celebrate! This must-try appetizer is delicate yet has depth of flavor: Corn-Leek Cakes with Caviar, Smoked Salmon and Creme Fraiche

May 10, 2013

Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be

Caroline B. Glick: The dirty little secret about Israel's Arabs

Mona Charen: Hawking's Moral Calculus: The man and the movement he embraces
Morgan Housel: The biggest retirement myth ever told

Sandi Doughton: Eyes may provide new insight into brain problems

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : The Great Gatsby's Jewish Ties; Jews in the "Time 100 list" List; People's Most Beautiful Women

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: A sweet-hot meal: Pear salsa spices up salmon

May 8, 2013

Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas

Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate

Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
Amanda Paulson: Study reveals sad truths about community colleges

Harvard Health Letters: Evidence weak that zinc, echinacea are beneficial

The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility

May 6, 2013

Edmund Sanders and Patrick J. McDonnell: Think Israel's objective in Syria is to weaken Assad or embolden the rebels? Think again

Brian Bennett: Israeli airstrikes may show weakness in Syrian defense

Michael Ollove: Millions of ex-felons, parolees and those on probation are about to be entitled to tax-payer paid health coverage
Karen Kaplan: Most men can skip PSA test for prostate cancer, urologists say

Kimberly Lankford: How to track down a lost life insurance policy

Dream of Mars exploration achievable, experts say

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan M. Selasky: EGGPLANT WRAPS are an easy, sumptuous and scrumptious meal

May 3, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Human Courage and the Unavoidable, Disturbing Text

Steven Emerson: Attorney General Fights CAIR in Court, Lauds it in Public

Mediterranean diet helps beat dementia: study
Harvard Health Letters: When to be screened for a hearing problem

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Iron Man's Jewish Connections; Marc Maron's New TV Show; Martin Landau Grows Up with Israel; Shalom, Allan Arbus

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: A sweet surprise for Mother's Day dessert

May 1, 2013

Jonathan Rosenblum: An Improbable Journey to Orthodoxy

Jonathan Tobin: Blame Obama, Not Israel for Syria Push

Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Halena M. Gazelka, M.D.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: What you need to know about implanted pain relief devices

Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine

Jessica Shugart: When it comes to math, MRIs may be better than IQs

The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali: The celebrated chef on how high-maintenance ASPARAGUS RISOTTO need not be

April 29, 2013

Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust

Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?

Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Morgan Housel: He's rich, smart and old: Listen to him

Thomas Salinas, D.D.S.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: The safety of amalgam fillings

Harvard Health Letters: Tomatoes and stroke protection

Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Swing into spring with lemon cream pie

April 26, 2013

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: The world is a mirror

Caroline B. Glick: Time to confront Obama

Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Kimberly Lankford: New strategies ease pain of paying for long-term care insurance

Howard LeWine, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Too much ibuprofen?

Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Jewish Major Leaguers, 2013; New Movies and Comedy Show; Shalom, 'Lumpy' (Leave it to Beaver)

The Kosher Gourmet by Emily Ho : A bright and cheerful salad to herald the warmer months ahead

April 24, 2013

Steven Emerson: Boston Bomber Exposes Islamist Secret

Morgan Housel Admit it: No one has any idea what's going on
Harvard Health Letters: Can you get headaches from headache medication?

Kerri-Ann Jennings, M.S., R.D.: How to easily get more Omega-3s in your diet

Melissa Healy: Pot in a pill: All the pain relief without the smoke

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan Russo: Chipotle Chili Butternut Squash Soup is bold, zesty, hot

April 22, 2013

Ken Dilanian: Counterterrorism's future is unclear

US man departing country arrested on terror charges
Barbara Williams: An unorthodox but growing treatment in a 9-year-old's battle against cancer

P.J. Skerrett, M.D.: How to recognize a good whole grain product

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Teen actor Jonah Bobo in New Flick: Hunky James Wolk on Mad Men; Erich Segal's Daughter Writes Prize-Winning Jewish Novel


Jewish World Review June 9, 2009 / 17 Sivan 5769

Every man had to be a hero

By Wesley Pruden


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | The reunion of old soldiers becomes ever more poignant as the boys of an earlier summer move closer to the shadows that eventually embrace us all. The old battlefields that once commanded the rapt attention of everyone become remembrance colored in fading shades of sepia.


The present generations can scarcely fathom the enormity of D-Day in the lives of those who lived through it, soldier and civilian, just as the generations that followed could scarcely imagine the horror the young nation felt at Antietam, the chill that swept across the nation the morning after the Titanic went down, or the thrill of Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic. Every generation furnishes its own iconic events.


The men who survived the unique hell of the landing beaches of Normandy — Omaha, Utah, Gold, Sword and Juno — are old men now, the youngest in their 80s, many approaching 100, and they're shipping out to Valhalla at the rate of 5,000 every week. President Obama and the leaders of Britain, Canada and France did their best this year, commemorating the 65th anniversary of a spectacular amphibious landing we'll never see the likes of again. Melancholy overwhelmed sweet remembrance; the boys of summer have become the old men of late autumn.


Barack Obama said the right things, and said them well. The occasion, wrapped in the somber pride of a grateful nation, would have transformed wooden remarks by George W. into golden eloquence, particularly if he had thought to get Peggy Noonan to write the words for him. But this year there was none of the electricity of Ronald Reagan's masterful tribute to "the boys of Pointe du Hoc," who did the impossible, scaling sheer 90-foot cliffs overlooking the beaches to silence German guns.


"What we cannot forget — what we must not forget — is that D-Day was a time and place where the bravery and selflessness of a few was able to change the course of an entire century," the president said, reprising the spirit of Winston Churchill's tribute to the young men of the RAF who won the Battle of Britain: "Never was so much owed by so many to so few."


It's difficult now to recall how high the stakes of June 6, 1944. Failure was not an option, but the prospect of catastrophe was real. "At an hour of maximum danger and amidst the bleakest of circumstances," the president recalled on the beach on Saturday, "men who thought themselves ordinary found it within themselves to do the extraordinary. They fought out of a simple sense of duty - a duty sustained by the same ideals for which their countrymen had fought and bled for more than two centuries."


Nearly 160,000 men were put ashore at dawn's first light on D-Day — 73,000 Americans, 61,000 British and 20,000 Canadians. By nightfall, nearly 5,000 Americans lay dead on the beaches. Even landing such a figure without the withering German fire would have been an astonishing feat of logistics. Five days later, the invasion force had grown to 330,000 men, bringing with them from staging areas in England more than 54,000 tanks, trucks and jeeps. Nearly all the troops arrived on the beach in 36-foot plywood landing boats, the work of a brash, rough-hewn, profane, hard-drinking and hard-driving boat-builder in New Orleans. Andrew Jackson Higgins was described at the time by Fortune magazine as "having a pleasantly malicious expression." Life magazine described him as a man with "the characteristic bluntness of the old-time American frontiersman," who resembled the conventional captain of industry "about as much as a commando resembles a desk sergeant." Andrew Higgins was the commando. Jerry E. Strahan, a biographer, noted that he wore dark shirts and dark suits and "was not afraid to call anyone he disliked a s.o.b. to his face." He drove men hard in his four New Orleans shipyards. He festooned his production lines with a large banner, warning, "The guy who relaxes is helping the Axis." His men loved him and broke production goals throughout the war. The U.S. Navy had nearly 12,000 ships afloat by the end of the war, and Higgins had built nearly 10,000 of them.


Dwight D. Eisenhower, the supreme commander in Europe, said years afterward, "Higgins is the man who won the war." Higgins would have scoffed. He never let his boatbuilders forget who would ride their boats to war. They were all the men who got it done.

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JWR contributor Wesley Pruden is editor emeritus of The Washington Times. Comment by clicking here.

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