Do you know what today is?

It's not my birthday or my anniversary; however, it is a very historic day for our country and Europe.  Today is the 68th anniversary of D-Day.   It seems Scott Walker's victory in the recall election in Wisconsin is overshadowing the news coverage of this event: I haven't heard anything about it on the radio or in the news (I do understand it could have been discussed and I just didn't hear or see it).  Drudge has several stories about it but they are buried in the middle of the middle column.

Eight years ago, Micah and I had the privilege of going to the American Cemetery, Pointe du Hoc and Omaha Beach with Student Leadership University on the 60th Anniversary of D-Day.  We walked around Pointe du Hoc, seeing the craters left by the bombs, slightly grown over and filled in, but the sense of the battle was not hard to envision.

We stood on the beach, collecting some sand to take back home to Chief Gary.  He still keeps that sand on his desk at work.  Those who teasingly ask about it are silent once they learn of it's origin.

At the American Cemetery, our group laid a wreath and listened to a talk given by a soldier.  I didn't really listen because my husband was a sailor at the time and I needed no lesson on sacrifice.  It was quite an emotional experience for me, being there; I'm emotional remembering.  I wish that every American could go.  High school trips to DC are important but standing where a man, probably only 19 or 20 years old, willingly went to war and died so that others could be free from tyranny and oppression is so very meaningful.

I would suggest going to the D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia as a substitute.  This Memorial's home in the mountains of Virginia is because "Bedford [suffered] the highest per capita D-Day losses in the nation."  As a mother and wife, I think of those mothers and wives whose arms would from that day forth be empty 68 years ago.  I'm reminded of the adage that those who stand and wait, also serve.

The best book I ever read on this subject is The Longest Day by Cornelius Ryan.  I think this book should be required reading in every high school history class.  My WEM book club read this at the beginning of the year.  War is never pretty and we were all saddened by the deaths that seemed to have no purpose, like guys being dropped off of landing craft into waters too deep and the weight of their equipment drowned them.  Yet we were amazed at the incredible planning that went into such an operation.  We felt for Eisenhower, who had to make the final decision, the weight of the world on his shoulders. We crossed our fingers, hoping the Germans would never discover the massive supply build-up or the "valleys filled with long lines of railroad rolling stock . . . to replace the shattered French equipment" (p. 56) in southern England.  We loved the happy endings, the stories of love that came out of war.

Take some time today to remember those who died 68 years ago on foreign soil, in a place where they probably didn't speak the language.  Read The Longest Day.  And never forget that freedom really isn't free.