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    Doc Jargon: D-Day or something else: Naming the operation

    Doc Jargon: Cutting through the jargon that is the U.S. Army.

    Photo By Collen McGee | Doc Jargon, cutting through the jargon that is the U.S. Army.... read more read more

    FORT RILEY, KANSAS, UNITED STATES

    06.09.2023

    Story by Collen McGee 

    Fort Riley Public Affairs Office

    Dear Doc Jargon,

    We just observed the 75th commemoration of D-Day from World War II. My question is, how did D-Day end up being named that? I am puzzled because big operations usually have a name, like Operation Desert Storm or Iraqi Freedom. Is it because it was just one piece of the entire war?

    Sincerely,
    Military History Buff

    Dear Military History Buff,

    You are right that big operations, which are collections of events throughout a longer period, do get operational names. But a single battle will often be named after a location or a geographic feature. For every battle, D-Day is the day when any combat attack is initiated.

    The D-Day most well-known is that of the invasion at Normandy. It is the one time that an often used operational term stuck to a single event.

    In addition to D-day, there is another term, H-Hour, which denotes the time the combat offensive begins.
    So, though the turning point of World War II was the invasion of Normandy, called Operation Overlord, the term D-Day has been the name that stuck.

    I hope that satisfied your military history knowledge quest for the moment. Keep researching as we learn much from the past.

    Sincerely,
    Doc Jargon

    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 06.09.2023
    Date Posted: 06.09.2023 10:13
    Story ID: 446601
    Location: FORT RILEY, KANSAS, US

    Web Views: 25
    Downloads: 0

    PUBLIC DOMAIN