(COLUMBIA, Tenn. – March 28, 2019) - - -Columbia State Community College’s history department will host a D-Day 75^th anniversary program April 11 at 4 p.m. in the Ledbetter Auditorium.  

Dr. Luke Truxal, Columbia State adjunct professor of history, will present “Coalition Warfare and the D-Day Landings.” 

June 6 will mark the 75^thanniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy, France during World War II. The June 6, 1944 landings marked the beginning of the end for Nazi Germany. The fighting on the beaches of Normandy could not have succeeded without a powerful coalition of nations. Seventy-five years after the event, Americans have begun to question the necessity of these alliances. This presentation will examine the D-Day landings and the alliances that made it possible and analyze the concerns and contributions of each Allied nation during the Normandy campaign.

“Here in the U.S. we understandably take pride in the D-Day invasion and continue to honor our heroes and mourn our losses,” said Dr. Barry Gidcomb, Columbia State professor of history. “Dr. Truxal, an authority on military history and World War II, will reflect on this pivotal moment in the history of our nation, and of the world, while also acknowledging that it wasn’t just Americans storming the Normandy beaches.” 

The program is free and open to the public. The Ledbetter Auditorium is in the Frank G. Clement Building located on the Columbia Campus at 1665 Hampshire Pike.