Remembering D-Day Beaches of Normandy

The following article was published two years ago and is shared again.
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Bill Smith, Editor: Today, marked the 66th 68th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Normandy’s beaches, a battle that led to the Allied forces’ defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. The D-Day Museum in the United Kingdom says that 73,000 American forces landed in Normandy. Most sources cite 6,603 American casualties, though recent research conducted by the National D-Day Memorial Foundation may suggest a higher number. The Memorial’s website says the landing included 11,000 airplanes, more than 5,000 ships, and over 150,000 soldiers.

Twenty-four Twenty-six years ago, my wife and I visited traveled from Brussels, Belgium, where we were stationed, to Normandy France to honor the fallen. We stayed overnight a local inn. When we visited the battlements, it was beautiful quiet day and there were very few people. We walked the beaches, viewed the German bunkers, reviewed battle lines, read the stories of the men that day, and visited the Normandy American Cemetery. We walked between the grave markers most of them marked with simple Christian and Jewish symbols. These were the men who's remains were not returned to the United States for burial. And we cried. No one who saw us seemed to mind. We and others before us were overcome by the sacrifice made by our military both for Europe and for our country. To try to explain the extent of our emotions would only detract from remembering this day.

We had been moved emotionally on previous occasions when visiting other military battlefields, monuments and graveyards. For example, I enjoyed visiting Luxembourg where my birth father had fought and received the Silver Star for bravery in the Battle of the Bulge. We also experienced the sense of horror, desperation and anger when we visited former German concentration camps. However, when we visited Normandy, we also experienced a great sense of pride in America and what men living and deceased had done that day for both our country and on behalf of Europe by spearheading the assault that would lead eventually after many more battles to the end of the war. We also experienced something with the local French that has remained with us.

Living only a couple hours from Paris and a reasonable drive from the Southern coast of France, we had visited France on several occasions. We enjoyed our visits to these other parts of France but we also noted a resentment of Americans and often a defiant arrogance towards visiting Americans. However, when we visited Normandy, the local French people were not only friendly to us but on learning that I was in the military, they went out of their way to treat us as welcome guests. Several of the local residents who were our fathers' ages or older expressed openly that unlike many of their countrymen they had not forgotten what the Americans did for them and the sacrifice paid for their freedom. They made an effort to share this with us and could literally describe with passion what they felt when they were liberated. They showed respect and honor for the sacrifice made by others for liberty on their very soil.

On this day, we can no longer share with our parents as they are now gone. But we have our memories of them, their stories and our visits to places like the Normandy. And tomorrow, I will call a living testimony - a veteran who fought on D-Day on the beaches at Normandy, France. Remember America, we are free because of the grace of God, the sacrifices made many times by veterans and others on our behalf, and our willingness to refuse to surrender our birthright of freedom to others.

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