On June 5, 1944, just hours before D-Day was to begin, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower paid a visit to the paratroopers of the 101st Airborne. He walked among the men, shaking hands, patting them on their backs, cracking jokes, and boosting morale. In his pocket, however, he carried a prepared message, taking full responsibility for the mission’s possible failure. He expected the casualty rate to climb as high as 70 percent, yet the decision to move forward with the plan had been made. Late that evening, the future president saluted each plane as it roared off the runway. And then he cried. Eisenhower knew that many of those brave soldiers, whom he’d praised and pumped up just hours earlier, would never return. At that very moment in time, a sacrifice was in the making.

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