Looking for inspiration heading into its biggest game of the year, Army invoked the memory of one of the most storied days in its history: June 6, 1944.
The academy's hype video for Saturday's showdown against Navy features the message Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower recorded to be broadcast worldwide after the Allied landings in Normandy 72 years ago. In it, the Supreme Allied Commander exhorted his troops as they began the "great crusade" to liberate Europe from Nazi rule, beginning with D-Day.
Eisenhower's words are illustrated by Army football highlights and images of a soldier dressed in a World War II-era uniform with shoulder patches of the 82nd Airborne — the All-American division — which played a key role on D-Day by parachuting into France behind enemy lines hours ahead of the seaborne invasion.