Omaha Beach, 0630, H-Hour + 81 years
About 10 days ago, after I started publishing these blog posts, I decided that I had to go to Omaha Beach this year for the 81st D-Day anniversary. This was more than one of those bucket list things. After doing the research for these blog posts, I needed to see the tide come and go on this vast expanse of beach. I needed to feel the current pull against my legs. I needed to smell the air, feel the wind, taste the salt of the English Channel. I needed to see how close the Germans were to the Allied forces. I needed to walk in the footsteps of so many who gave so much – some who gave everything. Men who never fulfilled their dreams, never felt the love of a spouse and family. Never lived beyond their youth. Never experienced all that life has to offer. Never grew old and wise.
I needed to walk up the draws that led them inland, so that I could feel the burn in my thighs, although I was unencumbered by wet clothing and 80 pounds of gear. I needed to feel their fear and their determination. I needed to understand their righteous mission to stop a cancer that was devouring the world. I needed to really understand the impossibility of it, and it was impossible. Yet, they did it, at a terrible cost.
I am writing this from Omaha Beach. I will make a subsequent blog post about how this experience has caused me to react even more strongly to Coleman’s group. For now, on this day, I just want to share some images I made at this most hallowed place.
Easy Red sector of Omaha Beach, looking west from WN62.
American Cemetery at Colleville sur Mer.
