A social-media argument tried to decide whether D-Day infantry or the people operating their landing craft had the harder or more medal-worthy experience. Landing-craft personnel spent the day moving slowly through artillery and machine-gun fire in exposed vessels. Infantry then had to leave that limited protection and advance across the beach. The two roles formed successive parts of the same amphibious assault rather than competing claims to courage. Operational history is better served by explaining those different forms of risk than by ranking the bravery of veterans who faced them.
Notable Point · 18:18-19:48
Why D-Day bravery cannot be reduced to one role
Landing-craft crews and assault infantry faced different but inseparable hazards on D-Day, making attempts to rank one group's courage over the other's historically unhelpful.