The statistics are staggering. UTAH BEACH: 23,250 Americans landed, 450 casualties. OMAHA BEACH: 34,250 Americans landed, 3,600 casualties. GOLD BEACH: 24,970 British landed, 1,050 casualties. JUNO BEACH: 21,500 Canadian landed, 1,270 casualties. SWORD BEACH: 28,845 British and French landed, 800 casualties. SLAPTON BEACH (Operation Tiger): 30,000 allied troops landed, 946 casualties.

The stories are heartbreaking. John J. Pinder, Technician 5^th Grade, landed 100 yards off shore under enemy artillery fire. He struggled through waist-deep water, carrying a vitally important radio. He was gravely wounded by enemy fire, but made it to shore and was able to deliver the radio. Although in severe pain and weakened by a loss of blood, Pinder refused medical assistance and headed into the tumultuous turf three more times to salvage more communication equipment. On his third trip, he was hit with machine gun fire to the legs, but continued to establish vital radio communication on the beach. John was eventually hit and killed on the beach. He died on D-Day, his 32^nd birthday. John received a Medal of Honor for his ‘gallantry and intrepidity beyond the call of duty.’

Only those that were there, those who spotted the coastline from their aircraft, those who tasted the salty water and breathed the smoky air will ever know exactly what it was like on June 6, 1944. The rest of us can only imagine, conjecture how it felt, and give our best shot at empathy.

We visited the memorials and museums at Utah and Omaha beaches, and remained continually in awe of the strength and courage of the tens of thousands of soldiers who changed history on one fateful day. Operation Overload was the largest combined-force assault to-date and ultimately the beginning of the end for the Third Reich. As beautiful as it was to stand on the beaches, looking out to sea, it would have been a very different sight nearly 70 years ago: 300 miles of coastline filled with 2,350 aircraft, 850 gliders and an armada of nearly 4,000 ships.

At Pointe du Hoc, a location of one of the German strongholds along the ‘Atlantic Wall’, the challenges and horrors of battle are the most tangible of any other place along the Normandy Beaches. There are still remnants of concrete German gun posts, bunkers, and dozens of huge craters pock the land, evidence of the rain of allied bombs that fell. The Pointe du Hoc Ranger Monument honors the 225 Rangers who scaled the jagged cliffs with rope ladders and eventually overwhelmed the enemy. It’s almost impossible to fathom the strength of mind, body, and faith required to climb up a 100ft sheer cliff face, carrying over 50 pounds of gear, amidst exploding bombs, opposing fire, and the cries of your wounded comrades, just to be faced with even stronger enemy fire upon reaching the top.

In the late hours of June 5, 1944 and the first minutes of June 6, on the brink of one of the deadliest battles the world has ever seen, an indescribable commitment to country is what drove all of the D-Day soldiers to head directly into the face of terror. Their sacrifices changed the world.

Cliffs of Pointe du Hoc and Ranger Monument

On the last evening of our week in Normandy, we decided to return to the beaches and experience them with a different intent: joy. We did this with plenty of running….

…and swimming…

…it was one of my favorite parts of our week.

Despite being a really sad place in human history, Normandy’s beaches are a beautiful place. Honoring our service members should be as much about celebrating their dedication to their country as mourning their death.

A foreign grave is a painful thing where loving hands no flowers can bring. – Corporal W.E. Robinson

Over 100,000 American WWII soldiers are buried in European soil. This is not to discount the innumerable individuals from every country involved in the war who have found their final resting place in foreign lands. The marked and unmarked graves are uncountable.

Those soldiers who are still missing, or those whose remains never made it to a proper cemetery, are not forgotten in the foreign lands where they gave their lives. Nothing shows this better than the small towns within Normandy. Driving through the countryside, amidst fields and neighborhoods spread across the region, there is a myriad of memorials to the heroic deeds of American and Allied soldiers. Some are large and bold, some are hidden and understated. All of them commemorate sacrifices made during ‘the longest day’ in our world’s history.

Iron Mike Monument – “In time of peace, sons bury their fathers. In time of war, fathers bury their sons.”

We visited Sainte-Mère-Église, one of the first towns liberated on June 6^th. Paratroopers landed in Sainte-Mère-Église in the first hours of D-Day, many of them breathing their last breaths before their feet ever touched the ground. Most notably, Private John Steele, whose parachute got hung up on the church steeple, leaving him to hang there and watch the carnage below. Steele survived D-Day, and the war, and became an honorary resident of Sainte-Mère-Église. The Airborne Museum in town focused only on the paratroopers and their stories. This statue, titled “The Day They Came”, was inside the museum and was made by a French student. I thought it was really interesting how, throughout the region, town, and museum, the French people viewed D-Day and the soldiers of the Allied Forces as their saviors. This statue captured their agony prior to the arrival of Allied troops, specifically the Americans.

“The Day They Came”

Sainte-Marie-du-Mont was also a really interesting town. Almost every street corner had a placard marking the location of a valiant deed, some of them performed by civilians at the risk of death:

Two German officers were studying a strategic military map atop the church steeple. Suddenly a strong burst of wind swept the map to the streets of the town below.  The German soldiers ran down after it, only to find a peasant artist. They asked the man if he had seen the map and he replied that he had not.  All the while, this man had found the map, quickly rolling it up and stuffing it into his pants.  When free of German soldier questioning, the peasant artist quickly handed the map (riddled with strategic military information) over to the Allied Forces.

Others showed the compassion that Americans showed on enemy forces, even when they could have made different choices:

An American paratrooper was crouched below the windows of the harness maker’s house, when a German soldier arrived. The two soldiers saw each other at the same time and fired at the same time. Shot dead, the paratrooper fell to the ground. The seriously wounded German was carried to the butcher’s shop where an American doctor saved his life. 

The German Cemetery at La Cambe was actually an American cemetery until 1947. It became a German cemetery in 1948 and contains over 21,000 graves of German soldiers. Having visited several WWII German cemeteries, it is hard to describe how they make me feel. Living in Germany, I have been lucky enough to experience the country and its people on a level most tourists can’t capture in a short visit. I know that Germany in the 2010’s is a very different place than it was in the 1930’s and 1940’s. However, many people unfortunately cannot see past the atrocities of the Third Reich. What’s important to remember is that not all German soldiers “had chosen either the cause or the fight”. They were sons, fathers, brothers, friends. They still deserve to be remembered.

Bayeux War Cemetery is a British cemetery that contains the graves of 4,648 soldiers from many different countries. I think Bayeux is the most beautiful cemetery I have ever visited. It was filled with blooming wisteria, huge trees, and flowers at every headstone. It was filled with life.

In French soil, amongst thousands of Allied troops, there are also 466 German soldiers buried in Bayeux. I don’t know what kind of controversy this caused decades ago, but today, I think it is pretty admirable. Honoring humanity instead of righteousness speaks strongly to the character of the French, the British, and all the families who buried a loved one here.

Every headstone was personalized, allowing the character and spirit of each individual to be celebrated indefinitely. These are the words of families who buried their soldiers in foreign graves:

We miss you when the morning dawns, we miss you when the night returns. – Private F. Chapman

May the sunshine you missed on life’s journey be yours in God’s home of rest. – Private E. Beecham

Oh the joy to see thee waiting on that eternal shore where we’ll meet once more. – Signalman S.W.Peckett

No matter where they were buried, or when, the combined efforts of all fallen soldiers from ‘the longest day’ and WWII changed the world. Their bravery is not forgotten, neither in Normandy, nor at home in America.