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Show OPINION Standard-Examiner Standard-Examiner r Our View | | D-Day One: Changed the direction of world embark upon the Great Crusade toward we have striven these many months. The eves of the world are rhe hopes andprayers of liberty-loving people everywhere You are about to ynarc Url wha, had } ' tf r task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well-trained, I an j hattlohardeoncd Hewill fight savagely. But the men of the world are marching together to Victory.” — Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, an well-equipped and Daltie-nardenea. message to Allied forces June 6, 1944. illiam D. Kyle Jr., a pilot in the ArmyAir Force stationed at Bungay, a militaryinstallation north of London, reported to the briefing room on June 6, 1944. It was hours before daylight. Heavy clouds shrouded the skies; the weather was ominous. The order that had been expected for days boomed and the “Great Crusade” had begun. It was a singular command thatirreversibly changed the direction of World War II. Kyle’s unit, the 446th bomb- er group “formed up” for a bombing mission ofa lifetime, one of the most important in the young captain’s wartime career. Col. William D. Kyle Jr., former Hill Air Force Base commander, now retired, remembers being able to peek through the small holes that appeared through the clouds on the horizon to realize they were over assigned targets — 15,000 feet above the beaches of France where allied ground troops had begunthe liberation of Europe. Radar equipment, primitive by today’s standards, lead the bombing mission, a group of35 to 40 B-24s. They met no resistance forces, no anti-aircraft or enemy bombers. For more than six hours, Kyle and his companion pilots strafed and bombed Nazioccupied France. Kyle said it was the weather that provided the surprise element of that historic invasion. D-Day was supposed to be June 5, but the English Channel was rough, waves were as high as multistory buildings, the beaches of France were flooded. The allied Supreme Commander, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, was forced to postpone the invasion for 24 hours. The enemy° assumed when the weather did not clear on June 6 that there would be noallied troops coming Eisenhower took a tremendous gamble; he made the right decision, Kyle said, of that rainy, historic morning in 1944, The Normandy Peninsula was the jumping-off point for the greatest amphibious assault of all time, a triumph over evil that will be observed worldwide on June6. British,American and American-Canadian forces were engaged in this vast expeditionary adventure. As word spread of the invasion, hope surged throughout the world. Historyreflects it was the invasion that intractably turned the tide of World WarII. Here at home, the train whistles in the Ogden rail yards were set off at 3 a.m. as word of the invasion spread. Emotions ran high. Churches filled as religious leaders held prayer circles. Workers at the wartime installations surrounding Weber and Davis counties stepped up their efforts. President Franklin D. Roosevelt rallied the nation with a radio broadcast of “prayer for victory.” Today marks the 50th anniversary of Day One of that crusade, the all-out assault on the beaches of Normandypopularly known as D-Day. D-Day’s vignettes of valor are countless: American Rangers, scaling the 100-foot-high Pointe du Hoc with ropes and hooks as Germans poured rifle fire onto them from the clifftop. Brave deeds, famous and unsung, won all five Normandy beaches by the dawn of June 7. The success of the “great crusade” was now assured. The survivors of D-Day have everyright to stand “a tip-toe.” Eisenhower said to the allied forces on D-daythat the “eyes of the world are upon you.” The same is no less true today. Monday’s commemoration will see our nation emotional and grateful, indebted to human bravery 50 years ago Mondaythat al- "INVASION EUROPE We should get up and run like Clinton He paused andsaid, “That was not the principal reason.” ‘ Goresaid visitors invited to run with the president often were “not fully prepared for the experience; he starts at a CHARLES McDOWELL Richmond Times-Dispatch normal pace ... but bythe last couple of WASHINGTON — President Clinton’s morning run took him up the Mall to the Capitol, up the Capitol steps, down again and back toward the White House. The day was bright. The air was soft. Only his luck was bad. At 15th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, almost home, he stopped to greet some tourists, eight or 10 adults and children in shorts. As the president moved on, a photographer shouted to the grinning group, “What could be better than that?” : “George Bush!” one man replied and his companions actually cheered as the passing White House press pool took notes. Clinton put on a burst of speed, his arms pumping, for the last 50 yards to the White House. Later Tuesday morning, he was in the Rose Garden for a ceremonyswearing in members of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. And no, he had not taken the run just so he could mention it at the ceremony. Clinton runs four or five days a week — several miles a day, usually surging at the finish without the provocation of Bush fans. At the ceremony, the president did mention running. He said he had been asked if he chose Al Gore for vice president “because he could run faster than me and I could get my times down.” miles he’s really barreling.” Florence Griffith Joyner, the winner of three gold medals and a silver at the 1988 Summer Olympics, now co-chair of the fitness council, referred in her remarks to the “First Jogger.” Then she corrected herself, saying she had run with him and “he doesn’t jog.” Indeed, her husband Al Joyner, an Olympic gold-medalist himself, recently dropped out of a run with Clinton and caught a ride back to the White House. So the president looked happy at the ceremonyand afterward obviously enjoyed talking with assorted members he had appointed to his Council on Physical Fitness and Health. They included people like Calvin Hill, four times a football all-pro with the Dallas Cowboys, nowa consultant in treating chemical abuse; Ralph Boston, former Olympian who develops athletic programs for disadvantaged youngsters in Tennessee; Dr. Ruth Arendt, director of the Sports Medicine Institute at the University of Minnesota, and Jimmy Heuga | of Colorado, an Olympic skiing medalist who contracted multiple sclerosis and founded a clinic for non-profit research on the disease. So there was a sense in the Rose Garden that the new fitness council is intended to be more than collection of sports celebrities. Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala said, in opening the program, that nearly half of Americans “are DAVID S. m BRODER Washington Post said, the resulting bitterness would make the next four years a nightmare in terms of running the city and attacking its problems That seven-year-old conversation has been returning to mind as I’ve pondered the source of the genuine sadness that has affected almost everyone in official SHEILA FLAMM, a top German and JUNE 5, 1974 WEATHER: The National Weather Service is predicting a wetter than usual Temperatures will be a little today following yesterday’s high n Ogden. Skies will be cloudy tov showers tomorrow. FARMINGTON Stanley M. Smoot develop a United inty instead of and Salt 1 } ; — Commissioner announced plans to Fund office in the relying on offices in Lake City. ; Hic cy r two Smoot indi- > would coordinate offices but would de- jonations are spent in Da- RICHARD JAY GREY, son of Mr Mr R t T. Grey of ¢ music student at Weber High School who has also participated in several service and community activities, has been named teenager of the month bythe Ogden Elks Lodge No. 719. She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bryce C. Flamm of North Ogden. TWO OGDEN girls have earned the Girl Scout First Class award. Karen Howell and Sandra Keller are members of Troop 126 with Mrs. Sue Marquardt as leader. Miss Howell is a student at Mount Ogden Junior High School. Miss Keller is a student at Central Junior High School. PAUL KENT FARR, son of Mr. and learfield iduated from the Naval Academy Md. He was commisgn in the Navy and rehelor of Science degree Mrs. Russell P. Farr of Ogden, will re- ceive a doctor of juris prudence degree at the University of Utah Commencement exercises of the College of Law. WASHINGTON — In 1987, when Harold Washington was finishing his first 50 years ago JUNE 5, 1944 WEATHER: Parly cloudy this afternoor and Tuesday, clear tonight; warmwith highs in the mid 60s, low 46 GEORGE S. ECCLES, veteran Ogden fer, turned in the best nine-hole ama card of the season at the Ogden Country Club on Sunday. He bagged a under par and listed three 44. othr birdies along with six par holes OGDEN CITY Recreation Department announced the beginning of a year-round music program. Preliminary work necessary for the organizationof a permanent Ogden symphony orchestra is supervised by Lester Hinchcliff OGDEN — All but 20 of the 337 teachers on the Ogden City School rolls have signed contracts for the 1944-45 school year. Of the 20 vacancies, there are six still to be filled, but, as there are numerous applications on file, prospects look good for the year Washingtonat the stinging, 1 7-count indictment a federal prosecutor has brought term as mayor of Chicago, Rep. Dan Rostenkowski (D-IIl.) came under strong pressure to run against him. It came from against the 66-year-old Rostenkowski. The indictment is a chamber of horrors of alleged kickbacks, chicanery, fraud and embezzlement of public funds, total- Rostenkowski's allies, leaders of the Democratic machine, eager to reclaim ing, the government says, at least half-amillion dollars. After reading it, you City Hall from the reform-mindedblack mayor who had ousted them in 1983 As a product of the machine and a proud Chicagoan, Rostenkowski knew that being mayor was ten times more important, in the eyes of his family, his friends and his constituents, than being chairman of the House Way§ and Means Committee. When I went on oneof my periodic visits to his spacious chairman’s office, Rosty made it clear that he, too, thought being mayor would be a great way to wind up his career in public of- could see why Rostenkowski's ace cnminal attorney urged him to plea bargain. fice The Republicans were in the White House; a new generation was taking over eneecnee And McMillen found inspiration even farther back. He remembered John F. Kennedy’s zeal for promoting fitness. He even recalled that Kennedywas inspired by a notion of Theodore Roosevelt’s — the White House staff should demonstrate its commitment tofitness by hiking 50 miles from time to time. Clinton instantly beamed. You could feel the staff wince. It's sad to see downfall of tough politician 20 years ago Ogden Shalaia later told a reporter about an idea that goes back to the Carter administration — federal bonds to underwrite sports for young people. Nothing came of it, but circumstances are more compelling now. Tom McMillen, co-chair of the fitness council, had a viewof the problem that went back farther than Carter. This three-time basketball All-American, Rhodes scholar, 11-year basketball pro and three-time congressman from Maryland, actually served on the fitness council as a high-school student in the Nixon administration. tered the course of history. ashore. nignt couch potatoes ... twice as likely to develop heart disease” as those who exercise regularly. Fifty percent of American kids can’t do one pull-up, she said. But children who are active in sports programs are 90 percent less likely than others to get involved with drugs. She added that girls in sports programs are 80 percent less likely to have unwanted pregnancies. Clinton noted that 43 percent of American adults don’t exercise vigorously even twice a week and mostof those do not show muchinterest in more exercise or a better diet. He said such people must be persuadedto “seize control of their own health.” the House of Representatives: his wife and daughters were in Chicago: why not g0 home’ All this he imparted in the samedirect, profane way he always talked with report- ers he knew. And he said one other thing The Ways and Means chairman says he is innocent and will fight the case in court, as he should, given his belief in the propriety of his own actions, Outside Washington and perhaps Chicago, the reaction, as conveyed by news reports, is that one more Capitol Hill sleaze has gotten his comeuppance. But here in the city where Rostenkowski worked for the last 35 years, the reaction is one moreof tears than of anger. Maybe that’s just a reflection of the stunted moral character many citizens imputeto the capital. | prefer to think that it 1s Washington's appreciationof therarity of people like Rostenkowski with a passion, not just to win elections, but to govern. Whatever else Rosty may be, he is not one ofthose blow-dried, media-wise po- the midst of a congressional term, with no risk to his seniority or chairmanship? He shook his big head and waved his hand dismissively, “lL could win.” he said “But | couldn't govern.” If he beat the litical mannikins, who doesn't know what he thinks about an issue until he’s talked to his pollster. As a public official, he loves heavy lifting. Since becoming chairman of Ways and Means in 1981, Rostenkowski has helped three presidents do their best work on behalf of the country. He was vital in passing the Tax Reform Act of 1986, the landmark achievement of Ronald Reagan's second term and maybe the best tax bill of modern times. Four years later, his speeches say- first black mavor in Chicago history, ing that both tax hikes and spending cuts “IT think | could win the primary” over Washington and then withstand whatever challenge a Republican or independent could mount. Why the hesitancy, then? What was holding him back from running for mayor, when he could do $0 in he were necessary to curb runaway deficits prodded George Bush into serious negotiations on a budget deal. Although Bush later repudiated the agreement, for political reasons, it was an effective act of statesmanship. With Bill Clinton in the White House, Rostenkowski was his lieutenant in both of the big, successful fights of the first year — the budget and economic plan and the approval of NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement. He was busting his tail trying to get Clinton's health care bill out of Ways and Means semi-intact, when the indictment came down and forced him, under Democratic Caucus rules, to step aside as chairman of the committee. It did not matter to him that twoof the presidents were Republicans; he liked them both personally and, even if he hadn't, the needs of the country would have impelled him to do what he did. None ofthis excuses or condones the actions for which hehas been indicted — if they occurred, In time, a jury will determine his guilt or innocence on these charges. What his colleagues know and affirm is that in the part of his publiclife they observed, Rostenkowski lived by a code as strict as any you could wish, He told you what he was going to do: he did not dissemble. He kept his word: if he promised something, he delivered. He was always upfront, even when he knew you would disagree with him. Phrases like these are all over my interviews with Ways and Means members, Republican and Democratic, even after they knew the government was coming down hard on him No capital ever has a surplus ofpoliticians with those qualities. Rosty is a warrior, someone who is willing to take on tough fights, who knows when to com- promise and how to win Seeing him brought down — even by what are alleged to be his own weaknesses — 18 a citywide sorrow, |