Rep. Gaydos asks committee to recognize D‑Day, reads uncle’s diary; amendment adopted

Representative Gaydos asked the Veterans Affairs & Emergency Preparedness Committee to recognize the June 6, 1944, Normandy invasion and shared a personal account drawn from his late uncle’s diary as the committee advanced the measure.

Gaydos described D‑Day as a major turning point in World War II, saying the operation involved international coordination. He told the panel that "the night before the invasion at 1900 hours...we were going to participate," and read passages about his uncle’s role aboard a tug offshore of Omaha Beach. Gaydos said the diary describes ships, aircraft and the heavy toll on the beaches, and recommended exhibits at the National Defense University and Fort McNair as places to preserve those records.

Chairman Gillan and other members praised the personal testimony as a compelling reason to formally recognize the event. Earlier in the item the committee considered and unanimously adopted an amendment (A03161) offered by Representative Gillan to change the resolution’s status; Chairman Solomon then moved House Resolution 242, as amended, to the floor for consideration.

Because the transcript includes a few garbled numeric strings in the historical account, the article reports the speaker’s descriptions as presented in committee (for example, Gaydos said nearly 7,000 naval vessels and about 175,000 troops from 12 nations were involved and that thousands were killed or missing); those figures were cited by the member during his remarks and were not independently verified in committee.

The committee voted to move HR242, as amended, to the floor.