The Power of Teamwork

June 6, 2019 marks the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings, a milestone many expect to be the last large gathering of the brave men who stormed the Normandy beaches and changed the course of WWII. Around the globe, events with titles like, “The Final Salute” seek to honor these heroes, and institutions like the National WWII Museum in New Orleans scramble to capture oral histories before D-Day is no longer the lived experience of anyone living. 
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“Human memory is a very fragile thing,” warns Jim DeFelice, NY Times bestselling author of the new D-Day memoir, Every Man a Hero.  “Unfortunately, as direct memory of a thing is lost, too often the lessons that it taught are lost, as well.” We suffer no shortage of books, articles or documentaries about D-Day. Certainly, it represents some of humanity’s strongest values—strength, honor, bravery, self-sacrifice—tried and proven under fire. Our nation will always look to those moments on the beaches of Normandy as some of the most heroic and impactful in our world’s history. But, when we turn to first-hand accounts from the men who lived through the battle, it is the teamwork they emphasize.  

D-Day Veteran Richard Keegan, in an interview with the BBC, put it like this: “We were trained in teamwork, and the teamwork was the thing that counted most.” Veteran Ed Chappell, visiting Omaha Beach on D-Day’s 70th anniversary, told a group of students, “It was teamwork like you’ve never seen teamwork before.” And, just last week, Veteran John T. Siewert told the USO, “We were trained to do something, and we knew if every man did his job, then everything was going to be okay.” 

Under the leadership of General Dwight Eisenhower, men from different backgrounds, different countries, and different branches of the military came together to achieve something they never could have alone. 
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Consider these words of praise from Eisenhower following the landings.

One week ago this morning there was established through your coordinated efforts, our first foot-hold in Northwestern Europe. High as was my pre-invasion confidence in your courage, skill and effectiveness in working together as a unit, your accomplishments in the first seven days of this Campaign have exceeded my brightest hopes.

You are a truly great Allied Team; a Team in which each part gains its greatest satisfaction in rendering maximum assistance to the entire body and in which each individual member is justifiably confident in all others.

No matter how prolonged or bitter the struggle that lies ahead you will do your full part toward the restoration of a free France, the liberation of all European nations under Axis domination, and the destruction of the Nazi military machine.
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I truly congratulate you upon a brilliantly successful beginning to this great undertaking. Liberty-loving people, everywhere, would today like to join me in saying to you “I am proud of you.”

Each of us can learn from this example: we accomplish more together. Eisenhower understood the importance of teamwork. He led with an emphasis on working together, and praised his subordinates when they combined efforts toward a common goal. Ten years after D-Day, in a statement as eloquent and profound now as it was the day he wrote it, Eisenhower continued to credit teamwork as the value most responsible for our success against the Nazi regime. 

Eisenhower’s statement on the 10th Anniversary of the Landing in Normandy:

This day is the tenth anniversary of the landing of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Normandy. That combined land-sea-air operation was made possible by the joint labors of cooperating nations. It depended for its success upon the skill, determination and self-sacrifice of men from several lands. It set in motion a chain of events which affected the history of the entire world.

Despite the losses and suffering involved in that human effort, and in the epic conflict of which it was a part, we today find in those experiences reasons for hope and inspiration. They remind us particularly of the accomplishments attainable through close cooperation and friendship among free peoples striving toward a common goal. Some of my most cherished memories of that campaign are those of friendly cooperation with such distinguished military leaders of foreign nations as Field Marshal Montgomery, Admiral Ramsay, Marshal of the Royal Air Force Tedder, Marshal de Lattre de Tassigny, Marshal Juin and Marshal Leclerc...

These lessons of unity and cooperation have by no means been lost in the trying period of reconstruction since the fighting stopped. Rather, we see peoples, once bitter enemies, burying their antagonisms and joining together to meet the problems of the postwar world… The courage, devotion and faith which brought us through the perils of war will inevitably bring us success in our unremitting search for peace, security and freedom.

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​D-Day Close to Home

Serving in the Normandy invasion were two family members of our own team: Joseph C. Baniszewski, father of Tigrett Corp. instructor and guide John Baniszewski, and Peter George Fekas, uncle of Antigoni Ladd, co-founder of Tigrett Corp. We honor their service and their memory.

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​D-Day, the Naval Perspective

Tigrett Leadership Academy has been on numerous TV and radio talk shows recently, as the country celebrates the 75th anniversary of D-Day.  Discussions ranged from why D-Day is important for schools to teach today, to debates over which nations and military services should get credit for the success of the D-Day landings. 
 
For fresh insights on D-Day, we wholeheartedly recommend two books by one of our favorite instructors, Dr. Craig Symonds. The first, Neptune: The Allied Invasion of Europe and the D-Day Landings, gives credit to the massive naval operations that made D-Day possible. And if you become a fan of this colorful and insightful writer, dive into, World War II at Sea: A Global History. Or, you may take a quick look at Symonds on YouTube covering his WWII books.