On the morning of June 5, 1944, U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the supreme commander of Allied forces in Europe gave the go-ahead for Operation Overlord, the largest amphibious military operation in history. On his orders, 6,000 landing craft, ships and other vessels carrying 176,000 troops began to leave England for the trip to France. That night, 822 aircraft filled with parachutists headed for drop zones in Normandy. An additional 13,000 aircraft were mobilized to provide air cover and support for the invasion.
By dawn on June 6, 18,000 parachutists were already on the ground; the land invasions began at 6:30 a.m. The British and Canadians overcame light opposition to capture Gold, Juno and Sword beaches; so did the Americans at Utah. The task was much tougher at Omaha beach, however, where 2,000 troops were lost and it was only through the tenacity and quick-wittedness of troops on the ground that the objective was achieved. By day’s end, 155,000 Allied troops–Americans, British and Canadians–had successfully stormed Normandy’s beaches.
Robert Francis Kennedy, the crusading U.S. attorney general, senator from New York and presidential candidate, was instrumental in helping protect and shape civil rights law in America during the 1960s. Kennedy, born November 20, 1925, in Brookline, Massachusetts, attended Harvard University and University of Virginia Law School and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He served as U.S. attorney general during the presidential administration (1961-63) of his elder brother John F. Kennedy.
As attorney general, Bobby Kennedy championed social justice causes and later helped draft the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Kennedy announced his presidential candidacy in March 1968 and spoke out against urban poverty and the Vietnam War during his short-lived campaign. In the early hours of June 5, 1968, after giving a speech to his supporters at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, Kennedy, a father of 11, was shot by Palestinian immigrant Sirhan Bishara Sirhan. Kennedy died the next day and was buried near John F. Kennedy at Arlington National Cemetery.