The Peace of Normandy

During a school break in February, I watched our son and daughter play on Omaha Beach. They love the water and enjoy splashing around in tide pools whenever they have the chance. As they got their clothes and feet wet, and squealed in the icy chill, they were oblivious to the howling wind that blew long carpets of sand non-stop across the undisturbed flat expanse of hundreds of meters, giving us the sense that the beach was moving, and alive.

The birds were loud too, and with the sound of the breeze and the relentless frothiness of the cold waves, it was impossible not to feel the energy and presence of the coast.

At the same time, eerily and inexplicably, the beach was a picture of peace and calm.

It felt like the satisfied but fitful slumber of an old warrior queen, who, though tired from her travails, was always alert, even in sleep.

On June 6, 1944, D-Day, Allied forces launched a massive invasion of the beaches along the coast of Normandy, France. Troops from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and other countries, including contributions from France, Australia, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Greece, South Africa, and Southern Rhodesia (Notably, among them were over 2,000 African Americans and troops called in from the African colonies who fought to reclaim for others a dignity they did not have for themselves in their own countries), numbering 160,000 in all, participated in an audacious assault, landing on 5 heavily fortified beaches on the extensive west perimeter of the country.

Omaha Beach was the second landing and the bloodiest. By the end of the day, of 34,000 soldiers who came ashore, 2,500 were killed, wounded, or missing (of a total of 4,000 across all the landing zones).

The sacrifices of D-Day first liberated France, and ultimately by August 1944, stopped Nazi Germany in its tracks, and restored peace to a turbulent world in a turbulent time.

It is a global peace that has weathered 80 years, and for its longevity and strength, all of us, the offspring of the greatest generation, do often now take it for granted.

As I shivered on that cold beach, I could not help but reflect on its story and what had been. I imagined the haze of plumes of smoke and eruptions of sand and heard the incessant howls of big searing bullets and the roar of big engines all around. I felt the freezing wetness of bloody water, and stumbled over the forms of fallen comrades and piles of debris. I heard not kids' laughter, but grunts of determination and groans of pain.

Still, my imagination was insufficient, even if a sober walk among vibrant white tombstones was a stark reminder of the reality of that war (in truth, all wars) and the price paid for it.

On Memorial Day it is a pleasure to have a free day and catch up with family and friends at the start of the summer season. It is an obligatory moment to think about those everywhere who have died while attempting to create peace or preserve it, so that we can claim freedom as a birthright. It is an opportunity to laud and encourage all those who each day strive to protect the humanity of some from those who wield weapons of power, wealth, and war to terrible ends against others.

Over time, it has dawned on me that the biggest tribute we can make to the legacy of the worthy men and women who drove the D-Day invasion is not only celebrating the peace they ushered 80 years ago, or simply enjoying the freedom they bequeathed us. That also, is glaringly insufficient! The best way to honor them would be to also exemplify their courage – their grim dedication and sacrifice that defied abject fear on a chaotic and bloody beach – and with it, build a better future for all on our maternal earth; a future that sustains for generations to come.

That is why those beaches, and those tombstones, feel so peaceful and yet so alive.

They have a message for us and it is simple:

Their work was never done, only their turn was. They will always remind us of what remains at stake for the world, and at the same time challenge us, not just to remember theirs, but more importantly, to find our own Courage, and create our own Greatness and Legacy for time to come.

In memoriam - May 2024.

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