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We knew D-Day was June 6, 1944, when Allied forces launched the Invasion of Normandy. We also knew it marked a turning point in World War II. And, like millions of others, we had sat spell-bound through the dramatic and horrifying opening scene of Saving Private Ryan. But we had no idea what the "D" in D-Day stood for, so we set out to find the answer. We perused the Yahoo! D-Day category, where we learned that the campaign was officially called Operation Overlord. Unfortunately, we found little mention about the literal meaning of the term "D-Day." Several sites noted that it was a code name for the actual day of the invasion, but none seemed willing to elaborate. It was time to go straight to the source. We did a quick search on "military dictionary" and made a beeline for the resulting Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms. When we searched on "D-day," the dictionary pointed us to an entry on "times." There, straight from the Joint Chiefs, we found this somewhat opaque definition of the term: D-day.
The unnamed day on which a particular operation commences or is to commence So there you have it, it seems that the letter D in D-Day stands for, yes, the letter D. Strange? Perhaps, but true nonetheless. In any case, make sure to check out the entire entry on military "times" for a fascinating look at C-day, M-day, F-hour, H-hour, and the whole alphabetical gang!
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