They say this mystery never shall cease:
The priest promotes war, and the soldier peace
--William Blake
The American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC), established by law in 1923, is an independent agency of the Executive Branch of the US Government. The Commission is responsible for commemorating the services and achievements of United States Armed Forces where they have served since April 6, 1917 (the date of US entry into World War I) through the erection of suitable memorial shrines; for designing, constructing, operating and maintaining permanent US military cemeteries and memorials in foreign countries; for controlling the design and construction of US military monuments and markers in foreign countries by the other US citizens and organizations, both public and private; and encouraging the maintenance of such monuments and markers by their sponsors.
Even in January, the grass is still green, the trees meticulously trimmed, and you can hear the constant sound of the English Channel waves crashing on the beach.
Visiting the cemetery with my father and brother, we marveled at the beauty, the class of maintaining and preserving the memory of so many Americans.
Then there was the actual beach. It is one thing to watch movies like The Longest Day or Saving Private Ryan believing to have some type of understanding of what it was like. After stepping onto Omaha Beach, at sunrise when the invasion occurred, it was quite another to actually be standing on the same strip of sand where thousands of men lost their lives.
Standing at the water’s edge at low tide. Almost 100 yards from any type of cover. Impossible to imagine, inconceivable. The experience was breath-taking and can only give the person visiting Omaha Beach, or any of the other beaches of Normandy (Juno, Gold, Sword or Utah), a sense of sorrow and gratitude for the soldiers who landed there on June 6, 1944.
It’s sad, however, that in the twilight of the World War II generation do the people of this generation finally come to appreciate their deeds, their sacrifices. Lest we forget.
from the Seoul Word newspaper, 28 January 1999.
Photo: Randy L. Price
My father, brother and I got to Normandy Beach at sunrise... Try to imagine the beach covered with barricades, machine-gun and mortar fire coming from the high ground, and that probably won't even come close to what the soldiers landing on Omaha Beach saw that morning.
"Here Lies in Honored Glory a Comrade in Arms Known Only to God"
One of 307 Unknown grave markers in the American Cemetary
The cemetary is rectangular in shape. Its main paths are laid out in the form of the Latin cross. 172.5 acres in extent, is one of the fourteen permanent American World War II cemetaries constructed on foreign soil.
Photo: Verle L. Price
A special thanks to the soldiers of the second World War...