A Salute

 Eighty years ago this weekend at Midway the United States navy fought and won the most historically decisive naval battle since Trafalgar against superior Japanese forces. The victory was the turning point in the Pacific and perhaps in the entire war – ending the Japanese strategic offensive and allowing the United States to follow its Germany first strategy. Seventy eight years ago tomorrow American, British, and Canadian forces successfully landed in Nazi-occupied France, beginning a series of battles that in less than a year led to the defeat and destruction of Nazi Germany. Almost all the men who did those things are dead now. We owe them a salute, now and every year in the first week of June.