We visited the beaches of Normandy where thousands of Americans trodded through sand, water and blood to defeat the Germans. The tiny French country road we took leading to the cemetery was lined with French country homes...all with a small French flag stuck in the yard. Next to each of those flags was a small American flag also stuck in the yard. Our tour guide said these homes had displayed an American flag in their yard since the US came and liberated the country from the Germans. They always wanted visitors to know how much they appreciated our country's sacrifice for them.
We visited the American cemetery there. Much to my suprise, as our bus passed through the gates and into the cemetery, our guide explained that France had given the land where the cemetery is to the US. We were actually on American soil.
I cried, my friend Katherine cried. Many on the bus cried.
The beaches were foggy and rainy the day we arrived. Much like, I can only guess, they were on D-Day when thousands of Allied soldiers lost their lives there.
Because it was rainy and quite a walk down to the beach from where we had stopped, only a few of us walked down to the sand. I did and picked up these shells.
While I know US soldiers have lost their lives in many wars before and since WWII, this day will forever be the one that reminds me personally of their sacrifice.
To have walked on the beach where they died and on the American soil so far from our homeland under which many of those same men are buried is an emotional memory this American cititzen will always hold in my heart.
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