All is quiet at Normandy save for the water lapping gently on the shore.
The cool breeze and the sparkling sunlight welcome another day of peace.
It is a setting destined for all time to honor the good that men can do and
the sacrifices that preceded the calm, the dignity, and the resolve. There is a
time and place for all things, but few will ever match the enormity of this
site, or the collective will that transformed it for all time.
If the quiet, and the solemnity, and the grave markers can be summed into a
single word to honor the men who fought and died here, it is this: peace.
Nothing ends hostilities as well as peace. Nothing stops the urge to kill like peace.
And nothing shows our respect for each other like peace.
Lessons learned are more difficult. We know that peace does not last.
We know that wars are too often our first resort, and the peace that was quickly
becomes a memory. But not here. The stakes were too high, the sacrifices were
too great, the challenges were nearly insurmountable. Here we dare not forget.
But can remembrance make a difference? Can we carry a part of Normandy with
us as we walk along other shores, in other times, and in other places? If the price
of freedom is eternal vigilance, let us be prepared to pay that price. Let us be
eternally vigilant and never break faith with those who gave us all another chance
at this elusive thing we call freedom.
well-done. 'the single word - peace' really got me. Can remembering make a difference? If we let it but there are those who just don't care about sacrifices made for peace. They're too busy enjoying their freedom.
...poem/words that present us with the chance to see something fresh peaceful soothing...at last...after 70 years...and mark the largest seaborne military invasion that changed the course of the WW2...and the "longest day of modern history"...only the sensitivity of poets verse's able to go back to "this place" in different mood...for all of us to say "thank you for having been there, D-Day Fallen"...never to be able to grasp the gravity of the events that have unfolded "that day" and the importance it has to our lives today...
Would never know the atrocity that took place there, on the 6 June 1944, if no for photographs like the "Taxis to hell and back - into the jaws of death", taken by Robert F. Sargent on Omaha Beach/Operation Overlord/WW2...
...there was no word to describe this inhuman act...so the above phrase comes from the 1854 narrative poem "The charge of the Light Brigade", by Alfred, Lord Tennyson...about the horror of war, brutality and nobility of those ~120 000 dispatched on the Beach...scared kids...standing there with...NO CHOICE...Nazis bullet through the chest or the back from own peers...joining with the other side...NO OPTION...had a job to do...Courage's confused staff...Human dignity/honor a reason...we must never forget those who "done us all a favor"...favor...impossible to pay back.
They lives were taken...so we could go back with a poet...sit there on a sunny day...walk along the Beach...in silence!
Today...with recommendation...study history...study this time in Western civilization...we watched the World Leaders joined the Allied Veterans, who have received France's "Legion of Honor", for "necessary sacrifice to rout the Nazis"...Russia invited to Normandy...in "recognition of sacrifice made in the WW2"...
On the Normandy's "democracy's beach head"...we watched the awkward display of 19 leaders of West/East/North unity...religiously avoiding hand shaking in front of TV cameras....
It is your choice to propose a toast...Vive l'Amerique!...Vive la France!...Vive l'Alliance!...Vive la Russie!...but "never break faith with those who gave us all another chance at this elusive thing we call freedom"....
Lest we forget!
Long live the memory of those kids who fell there for our Liberty!..."as we walk along other shores, in other times"...
The stories and sacrifice may be different but future generations are all the same in every country!History what.. it is the age of computers, sci fi and what not! and those who remember history becomes history for the lot!!JK
Apparently many don't remember the sacrifices others made for their sake. If only they could remember and hold dear, this world would be a better place. A lovely write Edward. Kudos!
Mary
We should all learn from history. Unfortunately, each new generation tends to forget history or not learn it well and tends to make the same mistakes over again. I wonder what would've happened if Hitler had not made the same mistake that Napoleon did by invading Russia and depleting his armies and resources. If he had stayed allied with Russia, Normandy would have been even more hellish and perhaps impossible.
For the life of me, I cannot understand human nature that rises up to join the mob or follow a man so delusioned as Hitler and all the other tyrants before and since. Without followers, these zealots are powerless. I certainly hope the Internet spreads the word worldwide that extremism and hate have no place in human society.
I sincerely hope that remembrance can make a difference. Sadly, the reality behind those who fought will always be veiled from the history records. So many youngsters sat on the front-lines, in truly appalling conditions, not for their staunch beliefs, but for fear of being shot by their own side, for not doing so ...and, even more sadly, most of them died anyway.
There are no winners in war - Only fatalities.
Rx
A very sentimental piece, reminding everyone of the battles fought, and the lives that had sacrificed in order to gain peace. Can the world maintain peace forever? That's almost impossible as humans would go to wars for just about anything. But those that fought have their own beliefs, they had sacrificed themselves for a good cause. I salute them all!!
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Would never know the atrocity that took place there, on the 6 June 1944, if no for photographs like the "Taxis to hell and back - into the jaws of death", taken by Robert F. Sargent on Omaha Beach/Operation Overlord/WW2...
...there was no word to describe this inhuman act...so the above phrase comes from the 1854 narrative poem "The charge of the Light Brigade", by Alfred, Lord Tennyson...about the horror of war, brutality and nobility of those ~120 000 dispatched on the Beach...scared kids...standing there with...NO CHOICE...Nazis bullet through the chest or the back from own peers...joining with the other side...NO OPTION...had a job to do...Courage's confused staff...Human dignity/honor a reason...we must never forget those who "done us all a favor"...favor...impossible to pay back.
They lives were taken...so we could go back with a poet...sit there on a sunny day...walk along the Beach...in silence!
Today...with recommendation...study history...study this time in Western civilization...we watched the World Leaders joined the Allied Veterans, who have received France's "Legion of Honor", for "necessary sacrifice to rout the Nazis"...Russia invited to Normandy...in "recognition of sacrifice made in the WW2"...
On the Normandy's "democracy's beach head"...we watched the awkward display of 19 leaders of West/East/North unity...religiously avoiding hand shaking in front of TV cameras....
It is your choice to propose a toast...Vive l'Amerique!...Vive la France!...Vive l'Alliance!...Vive la Russie!...but "never break faith with those who gave us all another chance at this elusive thing we call freedom"....
Lest we forget!
Long live the memory of those kids who fell there for our Liberty!..."as we walk along other shores, in other times"...
Thank you Edward for sharing the heartfelt words.
Mary
saved the best for last.
For the life of me, I cannot understand human nature that rises up to join the mob or follow a man so delusioned as Hitler and all the other tyrants before and since. Without followers, these zealots are powerless. I certainly hope the Internet spreads the word worldwide that extremism and hate have no place in human society.
Ron
Kathy J Parenteau
There are no winners in war - Only fatalities.
Rx
Sandie