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<THREAD>As we mark #DDay75 this week, I thought it would be worth shining a light on a few of the Americans who sacrificed so much to secure the democracy that @donaldtrump is so casually and directly assaulting.
Waverly B. Woodson, Jr. was a medic in the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, the only African-American combat unit assigned to the Normandy landings. Wounded by shrapnel at Omaha beach, he made it ashore and set up an aid station, treating an estimated 200 wounded. 
After finally collapsing from his own wounds and being taken to a hospital ship, he insisted on rejoining the 320th. He was denied a Medal of Honor due to racism and received a Bronze Star. Woodson was one of more than 1.2 million African Americans serving in WW2.
Army Staff Sgt. Macario Garcia was the first Mexican immigrant to earn the Medal of Honor. His family came to the US when he was 3, settling in Texas. Part of the 4th Infantry Division, Garcia was wounded during the D-Day landings at Normandy.
Later, in Germany, badly wounded, he pushed on alone to take out two enemy machine gun nests with grenades and his rifle, killing six and taking four captive. In Texas after the war, he was refused service at a restaurant. Garcia was one of 500,000 Mexican Americans in WWII.
Army Master Sgt. Charles Norman Shay was a platoon medic in 16th Infantry Regiment, one of 3 combat regiments in the 1st Infantry Division that led the D-Day assault. Shay was one of 175 Native Americans who landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day.
According to @nlm_news "American Indians have the war’s highest rate of voluntary enlistment in the military. Of 350,000 American Indians in the U.S., 45,000 enlist in the armed forces. In some tribes, 70 percent of the men enlist."
Lucille Wise was one of 1,100 selected as Women Airforce Service Pilots. Starting in 1943, with pilots in short supply, so-called WASPs brought planes from factories to air bases and some of these planes provided support for the D-Day landings.
According to @CBSNews, these WASPs logged "more than 60 million miles in more than 12,000 aircraft: the B-17s, B-24s, and P-51 Mustangs that helped win the war."
Beyond attacking the rights of African Americans like Woodson, immigrants like Garcia, Native Americans like Shay, and women like Wise, this president is threatening our democracy in 6 ways, according to @protctdemocracy...
politicizing independent institutions, spreading disinformation, executive power grabs, quashing dissent, delegitimizing communities, and corrupting elections. In 2019, honoring the heroes of D-Day means fighting for the democracy they gave so much to protect.
@DonaldTrump And yes, I realize I included the wrong handle for @realDonaldTrump The hazards of being new to figuring out how to engage with this whole twitter thing...
