wrote to her husband, frank, a corporal in the army, "d-day has arrived.he first thought of all of us was a prayer." below us are the beaches where corporal elliot's battalion and so many other american landed -- omaha and utah, proud names from america's heartland, part of the biggest gamble of the war, the greatest crusade, yes, the longest day. during those first hours on bloody omaha nothing seemed to go right. landing craft were ripped apart by mines and shells, tanks sent to protect them had sunk, drowning their crews; enemy fire raked the invaders as they stepped into chest-high water and waded past the floating bodies of their comrades. and as the stunned survivors of the first wave huddled behind the seawall, it seemed the invasion might fail. hitler and his followers had bet on it. they were sure the allied soldiers were soft, weakened by liberty and leisure, by the mingling of races and religion. they were sure their totalitarian youth had more discipline and zeal. but then something happened. although many of the american troops found themselve