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FOR THE RECORD: Just prior to D-Day, Allied personnel received a printed pep talk from General Dwight D. Eisenhower—a type of missive usually termed an “Order of the Day.” It informed them that they were “about to embark upon the Great Crusade,” and were to accept “nothing less than full victory.” John Robert “Bob” Slaughter took his copy around to his army buddies and asked them to sign their names on the front or back. He then tucked it into a plastic bag and stowed it away. Only later would he discover that 22 of the 75 men who autographed the Order never came home: 11 died on Omaha Beach that same day. Unable to shake his memories of them, Slaughter founded the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia, in 2001 as a tribute to those who fell on June 6, 1944.
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Surviving Objects From D-Day Speak Volumes on Sacrifice
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