Google often changes its logo to match the day – public holidays, festivals, even sports get their own logo de jour.

On June 6th 2008 Google remembered the birthday of Spanish painter Diego Velasquez.

I like Velasquez. Las Meninas, the painting suggested in the logo, is a wonderfully rich image that draws in the viewer, and almost forces him or her to wonder, to ask questions, to participate in the painting. It really is one of those rare paintings you can lose yourself in.

On June 6th 2009 Google remembered the invention of the game Tetris. Tetris was a milestone in computer games. It is simple to play, highly addictive, and has probably been played by more people than any other video game.

But hang on. Important as those things might be, June 6th is the anniversary of D-Day.

2009 is the 65th anniversary of the day on which allied forces, mostly men from the US and UK, landed on beaches in Normandy and began to roll back the horror of the Nazi domination of Europe. The beaches were more heavily defended than expected, and losses were horrific.

The film Saving Private Ryan gives a frighteningly accurate portrayal of the conditions under which the landings took place.

I am not the only person to think there is something wrong at Google HQ if D-Day can be consistently considered less important to remember than a painter or a video game. (There is something wrong at Wikipedia as well, but that’s a post for another time).

On June 6th 2009 Bing had a photo of a Normandy beach.

Time to change search engines.