At one point Churchill growled that “the destinies of two great empires . . . seem to be tied up in some Goddamned things called LSTs. - Stephen E. Ambrose

When a man was hit hard enough for evacuation, he was usually very happy, and we were happy for him — he had a ticket out to the hospital, or even a ticket home — alive. “When a man was killed — he looked ‘so peaceful.’ His suffering was over.

"O.K., let's go." And again, cheers rang through Southwick House. Then the commanders rushed from their chairs and dashed outside to get to their command posts. Within thirty seconds the mess room was empty, except for Eisenhower, The outflow of the others and his sudden isolation were symbolic. A minute earlier he had been the most powerful man in the world. Upon his word the fate of thousands of men depended, and the future of great nations. The moment he uttered the word, however, he was powerless. For the next two or three days, there was almost nothing he could do that would in any way change anything. The invasion could not be stopped, not by him, not by anyone. A captain leading his company onto Omaha, or a platoon sergeant at Utah, would for the immediate future play a greater role than Eisenhower. He could now only sit and wait.

Routine wears down vigilance.