 | |
Omaha Beach (June 1964)
October 9, 2009 |
|
I was on leave from Berlin Brigade, and Normandy was seeing its 20th
anniversary of D Day. I rode a motorcycle from Helmstedt north by
northwest into Belgium and then back toward France. It was like visiting
WW2 in reverse.
The memorial above the beach at Normandy brought me into tears, as I
stood looking at the field of crosses and the heartbreak of history.
I went down to the beach to walk alone, unable to imagine what really
happened that day, June 6 1944. I noticed a man standing and shouting,
and waving his arms ...a woman stood behind him. She was crying. As I
approached, he looked at me; his scarred face, torn and bent, jaw moving
side to side as he said..., "You! You look just like O'Brian... He was
killed, almost right here..., when I fell and lost the war. I never made
it off this 'fffnnn' beach..., O'Brian looked just like you... Boy!"
The lady was crying, and waving her arms at me... to go away.
As I passed by, she said a quiet... "Thank You!" I was crying myself. He
kept saying he never got off the damn beach. He was saying to his
Brothers... "I am sorry!"
As I moved on with tears flowing from my eyes, he turned and yelled at
me... "Boy! You sure look like my buddy...O'Brian!"
I guess I was... For that moment, in June 1964, on the 20th anniversary
of D-Day, I was damn proud to be O'Brian. | By Lou J. Klaiber
Copyright
2003 Comment on this story |
|
