Omaha Beach Normandy. Photo by Susan Bruch, taken in 1993 during a Hillsdale College trip.
On the 74th anniversary of the Longest Day, D-Day, I acknowledge the servicemen who sacrificed so very much on that day. We are indebted to them. On June 6, 1944, 5,000 ships, 11,000 aircraft and 150,000 Allied troops began the operation to gain a foothold in France. Nazi Germany had heavily fortified the 50-miles of French coastline. According to updated information by the D-Day Foundation (www.dday.org), 2,499 Americans and 1,914 from the other Allied nations died on D-Day. The @82ndABNDiv is live tweeting #DDay as it happened in 1944.
The fraternity magazines published during World War II chronicle the efforts put forth by members, with lists of those who were serving in the war and those who had perished. In 1943, Tau Kappa Epsilon stopped printing its magazine for the duration of the war, and instead, a newspaper called Teke Life was sent to all members.
Fraternity men served in the Canadian and American combat forces and sorority women did their share, both on the homefront and in the service areas that were open to them. A tweet from Sigma Alpha Epsilon put the number of their men lost during WWII at more than 860. Sigma Chi lost 738 members, 800 Phi Delta Theta members were killed. Zeta Beta Tau had 3,240 men serving in the Armed Forces; 121 of them gave the ultimate sacrifice. Kappa Delta Rho, which had less than 25 chapters, lost 70 men.
Phi Gamma Delta had 506 Armed Forces members killed. Its University of Washington chapter lost 14 men and the University of Pennsylvania chapter had 13 die in service. The Colgate, Dartmouth, Missouri and Yale Fiji chapters each lost 12 men.
Many of the fraternities have honored their members’ World War II service. Earlier this week, I wrote about the @SigEpPatriotsProject, a grassroots effort to document the military service of Sigma Phi Epsilon members. Here are some additional resources:
Phi Gamma Deltas in World War II
The Phi Kappa Psis at the University of Iowa endowed a $100,000 scholarship fund. It is named for Nile C. Kinnick, winner of the 1939 Heisman Trophy, and a war hero. Four members of Phi Kappa Psi died in the D-Day action.
Don Malarkey, a Sigma Nu at the University of Oregon, was a paratrooper whose first day of combat was D-Day. His experiences are told in the Band of Brothers miniseries.
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Yesterday, the world lost a visionary and fashion icon. Her death, at her own hand, made news. And it’s sad, incredibly sad, that Kate Brosnahan Spade, a 1982 initiate of the Kappa Kappa Gamma chapter at the University of Kansas, saw no way out but to end it all. And that is because mental illness does not discriminate. Fame, fortune and the good life are not talismans enough to ward off the feelings of emptiness, loathing, and despair. Her death has brought this to the forefront, again, as happens when celebrities commit suicide. Yet, every year, on college campuses throughout the land, the same situation takes place, the events don’t make news beyond those who love the one who couldn’t go on. Sometimes, members of a fraternity or sorority are left wondering what they could have done to save their brother or sister. The what ifs, the shouldas, wouldas, and couldas go through the minds of all who mourn. Love one another, check up on one another, reach out, be each other’s keepers. There are on-campus resources and the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-8255 is available 24 hours a day.
