Amid all the turmoil, pain, and suffering that has accompanied the events in our great nation since the first of the year, we recognize that today is D-Day, without which, I would not have the freedom to type this or you to read it. In the fall edition of the WIU alumni publication, I wrote what follows precisely 25 years ago today, and it rings out as importantly today as it did on June 6, 1995. I hope that long after all of us are “gone” that event never diminishes in the history of the United States and world events.
Have you ever had an experience that causes such a tide of emotion that you think you’ll explode? I have. It happened on June 6, 1995, 51 years ago to the day of the allied invasion of Normandy. I was there. I saw it. I felt it—Omaha Beach, Utah Beach, Pointe du Hoc, and the American Cemetery at Saint Laurent. I’ve seen the old newsreels about the D-Day landing and the sacrifices that were made that day, but to be there was a profoundly moving moment unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. Diane and I stood on the water’s edge at Omaha Beach. A steady rain pelted our faces as we looked into a cold, unforgiving north wind. Adrenalin began to race through my body, and I got goose bumps everywhere. Why? There was no machine gun fire, no exploding shells, no cries of pain from fallen comrades, just us—and the beach. The eerie silence of today was in total contrast to the credible chaos of June 6, 1944.
I tried to walk away once, twice, three times. I couldn’t. I just stood there alone with my thoughts and cried. A 49-year old man without a care in the world, was unable to control my emotions. The sense of history was overwhelming; I was totally consumed. My legs were like iron pilings sunk in the sand forbidding me the luxury of simply walking away as my mind told me to stay and ponder the magnitude of what had happened there.
I’ll never know the men who died that day for you and for me, but what if I had the chance, what would I say to them now? Could I find the words to thank them? Could I tell them how their sacrifices had changed the world? As I stood there, I wondered how HAD they managed to secure a landing against such incredible odds knowing that certain death was everywhere around them. The courage displayed that fateful day in 1944 was most extraordinary. They didn’t ask what was in it for them. They had a job to do and they did it. Thousands of men did not survive. As Lincoln said after the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863, “they gave the last full measure of devotion…” The soldiers of D-Day did just that. These heroes died so I could play baseball in the park with my sons, enjoy a sunset with Diane, play a set of tennis on a summer afternoon, and do a million other things that we all take for granted. The young men who lay beneath the white crosses in Saint Laurent were denied all these privileges of life. Their lives ended before they had a chance to savor life’s pleasures.
Take a little time and do something that will cost you nothing but will mean so much. Say thank you to those who have defended this nation so we can enjoy the freedom we too often take for granted—the freedom to worship where we please, to live where we want, to attend the college of our choice. They have ensured our collective freedom, and the opportunity to live in the greatest country on the face of the earth.
Omaha Beach, Utah Beach, Pointe du Hoc, and the American cemetery at Saint Laurent—it was an experience—a day—I will not forget. It has changed my life forever. The beaches of Normandy are quiet now. May they remain that way forever. (Published in the Fall 1995 Western News)
Gordy and the Fourth Quarter 