This week is the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion, the largest naval, air and land operation in history.

Its success created a path to victory for the Allies 11 months later. Thousands of Americans died in the invasion and the battles that followed. One cemetery in France contains the graves of over 9,000 Americans. Their average age was 22. A thought-provoking quote heard this week, “They gave their tomorrows for our today.” Our soldiers fought and died for parents, spouses, children and future grandchildren they would never see. Two of my uncles were in the D-Day invasion. Fortunately, both survived and made it home to their families.

I knew of my uncles’ D-Day participation as a child without ever understanding the reality. We played “army” in the woods and only thought about the glory of war. I regret never having an adult conversation with my uncles to understand better what they went through before they passed.

It’s hard to imagine exiting a landing craft and wading to the beach without cover and under enemy fire. I admire the bravery of all the troops. They realized they might never see their family again. Still they fought on. It’s embarrassing to think, in high school I feared rejection of calling a girl for a date.

Freedom isn’t free. Many of the troops on D-Day payed the ultimate price. Even those who came home were changed. Many suffered the physical and mental wounds of war. PTSD wasn’t well understood. Many turned to alcohol. Dad had nightmares his entire life. He would flung his arms and start kicking. It scared Mom. She jumped out of bed. Dad never talked about his combat in the Pacific during WWII. In his book from the Marines, we saw photos of the battles he was in. As an adult it gave me a better understanding of him, including his high blood pressure. He died with fragments from a grenade in his body.

D-Day also impacted those at home who had husbands, sons and friends in the invasion. Many learned by telegram their loved one wasn’t coming home. On a special this week one woman got two telegrams on the same day telling her she had lost her husband and her son in combat in Europe. Some children never knew their father. Mom explained how on the home front women took “men’s jobs” working long hours to manufacture equipment and ammunition to keep our troops in the fight. They ate less, went without and recycled usable possessions like pots to provide metal to help American troops.

This is a good time to retell a story I wrote about last year. The D-Day invasion required oil and a lot of it to fuel ships, tanks and airplanes. Only the British Air Force stood between Hitler and an invasion of Britain. German U Boats roamed the north Atlantic taking out American ships hauling oil to Britain for fuel, lubrication, light, heat and refrigerated medicines. Hitler understood the importance of oil. Germany had very little. They were able to turn their coal into liquid fuel, a time-consuming process. For oil, Hitler invaded North Africa, Middle East countries and Russia.

Britain had one oil field, in Sherwood Forest, the same forest where the stories of Robinhood and his merry men came from. Darcy Exploration, a British company was drilling oil wells. It took them 5-8 weeks to drill and complete a single well. At this rate they could never produce enough oil to fuel the British Air Force. Phillip Southwell, a Director for Darcy Exploration knew he needed help and flew to the USA to get additional drilling rigs and crews. In Oklahoma he met with Lloyd Noble who owned a drilling company. Lloyd refused because his rigs were busy drilling wells to produce oil for the American war effort.

Southwell’s persistence convinced Noble to put together four rigs. He gave Gene Rosser, a leader with experience, the role of leading the project. They found an expert in logistics to be Gene’s assistant and found 44 roughnecks to man two 5-man crews per rig. The goal was to drill 100 wells in a year. Germany had spies all over the USA. This project was TOP SECRET. If the Germans learned of it they could keep the crews and rigs from getting to Britain. The Germans would bomb the drilling sites if they learned of them. The 46 men only knew they were going to Britain but not where. The equipment was all painted green to blend in with the forest. Lighting at night was minimal and had to be directed downward.

One Darcy rule was to change the drill bit every 30 feet no matter what. A very time-consuming process requiring all the drill pipe to be taken out of the well. American decisions on when to change a drill bit were made by men in the field. The Americans stunned the Brits by drilling 1,000 feet the very first day. American crews initiated other efficiencies and drilled wells in 7 days per rig instead of Darcey’s 5-8 weeks per rig.

The Americans drilled 106 wells in a year producing over 3 million critical barrels of oil to keep the British Air Force flying. The Americans didn’t know about the planned D-Day invasion. The oil they produced made it possible. Following D-Day a pipe was run across the English Channel carrying British oil into France to fuel the Allied armies allowing them to march to Berlin. Oil was important for freedom then. It is still important today.

Our military needs dependable fuel and weapons. Some in the zeal to get rid of fossil fuels neglect the consequences. Freedom isn’t free. Russia, China and Iran would love to see the USA get rid of fossil fuels while they continue to pollute. Our forefathers put their lives on the line for freedom. We must have the courage to tell the truth about energy even if it is uncomfortable.

Greg Kozera, gkozera@shalecrescentusa.com, is the director of marketing and sales for Shale Crescent USA, www.shalecrescentusa.com. He is a professional engineer with a master’s in environmental engineering and over 40 years’ experience in the energy industry. He is a professional speaker and author of four books and numerous published articles.