73 years ago today June 6th 1944

[Grammy23]

7. My husband and I visited the American cemetery in Normandy two years ago.

It was a beautiful, sun filled day with a gentle breeze softly wafting across the headstones. A more solemn and peaceful place you couldn't imagine. I tried to imagine the day in 1944 when the people interred here so bravely fought and died. I admit it was difficult to imagine it while standing in the serenity of that place.

I read where the surviving families had the choice to allow their loved one to be brought home for burial or be buried in France with their fellow soldiers. A surprising number of them elected to have their loved one buried in Normandy. I cannot think of a more fitting place than to be buried with their own countrymen in this lovely place. The hell and suffering they endured felt very far away. It is a sobering reminder to all of us of their sacrifice when you look out across the perfectly aligned headstones. So many, so many young.

I wish the lessons learned from this would transfer across the generations, but alas, they do not seem to do that. There will be more cemeteries, more memorials. Some of us will learn, but the warriors among us won't.