The video concluded with a message from the ABMC: “We remember those who never left the beach. We honor those who sacrificed by preserving their stories. We remember.”
My then lady friend and I went on an adult ed tour of Normandy and the invasion beaches in 1994, for the 50th anniversary. I stood on those beaches and thought about what it was like for those men to come ashore through the barbed wire and other impediments, facing machine gun fire from hidden bunkers. Then we visited several of the American cemeteries, and saw the endless rows of white crosses.
There was no way I could even begin to express what I was feeling. When we got home, she broke up with me because I didn't talk enough during the trip.
Oh, well.