From the hedgerows of Normandy across the rivers of northern France and into the dense forests of the Hürtgen and the Ardennes, Royal Air Force (RAF) and US Army Air Forces (USAAF) aircraft cleared the way for the advance of the Allied ground armies. 

The Douglas C-47 became the mainstay for airborne drops and were used in this role extensively for Operations Overlord, Dragoon, Market Garden, and Varsity.

Originally designated Operation Anvil and intended to support the hammer blow of the Normandy landings two months earlier, the renamed Operation Dragoon fulfilled an American desire for a lodgment in southern France that shifted forces from the strategic cul-de-sac of Italy.

At this free daylong public symposium, guests heard from leading historians on the challenges, battles, and victories that followed the June 6 Allied landings and made the liberation of Europe from Nazi oppression possible.

In May 1944, the Western Allies were finally prepared to deliver their greatest blow of the war, the long-delayed, cross-channel invasion of northern France, code-named Overlord.

This column is the first of three D-Day columns written by war correspondent Ernie Pyle describing the Allied invasion of Normandy. 

On June 5, 13,400 American paratroopers boarded C-47 aircraft for the largest airborne operation in history. Problems began as they crossed into France. 

On June 6, 1944, President Franklin Roosevelt's usual "fireside chat" would be replaced with a joint prayer with the American people.