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Architecture & Engineering


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June 4, 2010

Strange But True!

Q. D-day was June 6, 1944, the Allied invasion at Normandy. Do you know what the “D” stands for?

A. According to a letter-writer to Science Illustrated magazine, Dwight D. Eisenhower and staff coined the term for an unknown date with a purpose: the debarkation of troops from their ships to the shore, making D-day “debarkation-day.” But such a belief is unfounded. The Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Assorted Terms explains that “D-day is simply date-day, the unnamed date on which a particular operation is to commence. Similarly, H-hour is the specific hour on D-day at which a particular operation commences.”


 
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