The Longest Days

”Men whose wisdom and courage make them worthy of heaven are called heroes.” -Motto, Clan Maitland

1944.

It seems so long ago, but it wasn’t, really. I was blessed to be in Normandy for the 57th anniversary of D-Day. I attended the memorial services at Omaha and Utah. I met the brave men who were there that day. I walked through the row on row of 9,000 white crosses and stars, sobbing as I read the names of the men who were also there that day, but never went home. I walked through fields lined with hedgerows where paratroopers dropped, and gliders crashed into a night filled with enemy fire. I climbed on top of the Atlantic wall and stood inside the German bunkers from which the hellish fury of destruction was released on those men. And I walked the beaches where it all happened.

The emotions I felt were indescribable. I lived that week with a continual lump in my throat and tears in my eyes. For you see, the realization of what happened in this sacred place is overwhelming. When you grasp not only what happened here-the terrible cost that was paid-but also the implications for our world and its liberation from sheer evil, you touch history. And that history touches you. The events of that longest day in 1944 stretch from the bloody beaches of Normandy all the way into your daily life today.

My generation has lived in a wonderful era of peace, knowing truly little war and knowing nothing of what it was like in World War II.  When I studied modern history in school, the events of WWII did not sink in because of the little time devoted to it in the curriculum. I did not grasp what it was all about until I began studying the war as an adult. When I finally understood what happened, I understood why I am free today, and the gratitude I feel cannot be put into words. I have grown up in a free nation, and in a peaceful time. This is the end result of what the men of WWII wished for their children and their grandchildren. I’m part of those “future generations” for whom the heroes of WWII fought.

May no generation ever say, “That happened so long ago, it’s not relevant to me.” As long as there is breath in your body, it’s relevant for you and for me.

The Longest Days is excerpted from the book, Now I Sea! by Jenny L. Cote, reprinted by permission. Copyright 2003 by Jenny L. Cote.