The Longest Day
Peak sunlight hours
The Longest Day refers to the summer solstice—the day with the most hours of daylight in the Northern Hemisphere, typically June 20 or 21.
The phrase also names the 1959 Cornelius Ryan book and 1962 film about the D-Day invasion of Normandy, which occurred on June 6, 1944.
The title plays on both the literal length of a June day and the grueling duration of combat: It was the longest day of my life.
- D-Day1944 Normandy invasion
- NormandyNorthern French coastal region
- invasionForcible entry into territory
- World War IISecond global military conflict
- JuneSixth calendar month
1944 · landing craft · beach · Omaha · soldiers · war · John Wayne · epic · crack of dawn · dawn · dusk · summer · solstice · endless · hours · waiting · battle · paratroopers
- 1962 filmsLawrence of Arabia, To Kill a Mockingbird, Dr. No, The Manchurian Candidate, Lolita
- Ensemble FilmsThe Breakfast Club, Love Actually, Nashville, Grand Hotel, The Royal Tenenbaums
- war mediawar films, war footage, war correspondents, war correspondent, war reporting