Today is June 6, and in 2022 it is the 78th anniversary of D-Day. For those who don’t know, D-Day was I would say the most important day in US military history. June 6, 1944, thousands of men from many countries stormed the beaches in Normandy, France to liberate the world from the Adolf Hitler and the Nazis.
My dad was a history major in college and loved the Civil War. You could call him a buff on the subject. He also had many books on World War II. His father died fighting in the Pacific and his adopted father was captured by the Japanese on the island of Corregidor in 1942 and was held until the end of the war in a POW camp. I have grown to be fascinated with WWII and have become quite the buff myself, and that’s just because of my weight loss. I love learning about WWII.
In June of 2012 I was able to travel to France for my wife’s 40th birthday. On June 6th, we took a train from Paris to Caen where we rented a nice little Citreon and drove to Bayeux to our hotel. We then drove up to the coast to visit Omaha Beach and the National Cemetery there. Words cannot describe the feelings you get when you first see that field of green dotted by white headstones. Everything is perfectly straight and mowed and edged and honorable. There’s walls covered in names of those who were killed there but their bodies were never found. The title on the wall was “These are those who’s final resting place is known only to God”. The reverence on display is like nothing I’ve ever seen.
We walked down the path and onto the actual beach itself. It’s incredibly humbling to stand there where so many fought and died for freedom, for us all these years later. If I could have but an ounce of the bravery those men must have had that day and in the coming days to free the world from tyranny.
Every year when this day comes around, I reflect on the “problems” I have. Why didn’t I book this job or that job? It costs more to fill up my truck than it did. I didn’t get paid enough for that one voice gig or that client wasn’t happy with what I did. How will I find the time to take my kids to hockey practice and gymnastics with traffic so bad?
Thinking of D-Day puts it all into perspective. What we are facing now are not real problems. Life and death on a God-forsaken beach across the ocean fighting for something bigger than yourself and something that will affect generations and all we can do is squabble over gun control or genders or elections or gas prices. It really makes you think.
If you have the chance to visit Normandy, I cannot recommend it enough. Pearl Harbor is next on my list. What places like these have you gone to and had them change your perspective on life?