MEMORIAL DAY - A DAY OF REMBERANCE

In the fall of 2011 I had the great fortune to take a trip to Europe that included a day in Normandy.  It was a solemn day as we went to the Musee du Debarquement, the D Day Museum with it's installations and vignettes using authentic items. We walked on Omaha Beach and the sculpture on the beach just seems so fitting and appropriate. The most chilling thing to me was after walking down the beach I turned around and my vantage was that of a solder landing on the beach, you look up and the gun turrets and bunkers are still there and you see that these BRAVE men were truly sitting ducks long before they even got out of the boats. We saw the visitor's center and then walked through the cemetery. The first grave I saw was a boy from California (my home state) a young boy, and one can only imagine the pain his parents felt when the telegram arrived letting them know their boy was no more. There is such a sense of hallowed ground at this site. I just wish there was some way that all American kids could visit here so they would know first-hand the place where so many gave their lives to ensure the freedoms we enjoy today.  It is so fitting that we continue to set aside a day to honor all those who make personal sacrifices so that we are free.

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Photography credit, blog owner

#1 - Inside the Musee du Debrquement

#2 - Sculpture at the American Cemetery Visitor's Center, "Spirit of American Youth Rising from the Waves." It is dedicated to the young American lives lost in Normandy. The American Cemetery is permanent and our cemeteries in Europe are built, operated and maintained by the American Battle Monuments Commission, which is an agency of the federal government.

#3 - An American grave

#4 - Sculpture on Omaha Beach titled "The Braves" erected in the memory of Allied solders.

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