One minute it's the continuing World War 1 commemorations, the next it's the anniversary of D-Day, and World War 2. When will it stop? To celebrate heroic fighting is one thing, but war itself should never be celebrated. Neither should those who took us there.

It is interesting to see how certain people are trying to re-write history, especially World War 1. And, after all, history is written by the victors. So let me just fill your readers in on a few facts about D-Day that they might not have seen in the recent coverage.

Winston Churchill was against D-Day. He was far more interested in holding on to our empire, and especially our trade routes to India via the Mediterranean Sea. That's why between Dunkirk (1940), and D-Day (1944), the British barely engaged the German military on land at all. Russia, in effect, won World War 2, by sacrificing millions of troops and gutting Hitler's forces. Stalin urged the allies to open a Western front years earlier, and it was only when President Roosevelt agreed, and Churchill was outvoted, that D-Day went ahead.

In World War 2, Germany's leaders let loose a military that created havoc throughout much of Europe, but then Britain and her allies then committed atrocities of our own. We bombed many thousands of innocent civilians in Germany, and other occupied countries. The U.S. dropped two unnecessary atomic bombs, and on another occasion, in a single night, killed 100,000 people by bombing Tokyo. War poisons everyone who participates, including us.

Lastly, I heard that D-Day lead to decades of peace. Tell that to Vietnamese, Koreans, Afghans, Iraqis, Libyans, Panamanians, Cubans, Egyptians (Suez), Chileans, Palestinians, and Nicaraguans. I'm sure there's more.

Colin
Tooting