A little over a month before the 71st anniversary of the D-Day invasion, Lily & I went to Normandy. We both have grandparents who were part of it, although from different armies and on different beaches. We figured we should probably make the trip to Normandy as long as we were in Paris.
Lily's grandfather was a private in the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division that landed on Juno Beach. My grandfather was a sergeant in the 1st Infantry Division that landed on Omaha Beach. Lily's grandfather survived D-Day, but died later in the war. Obviously, she never met him. My grandfather survived D-Day and the war and lived well into his 80s. I was closer to him than anyone else in my family.
Lily and I went to a few of the beaches and spent the day visiting monuments and memorials. Neither of us have any family buried there, but we went to the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial. It is a pretty nice place, for a cemetery.
The entire Normandy area is a beautiful seaside community. The death and destruction that took place on that day felt more than a little out of place. It was like looking at an amazing Hawaiian sunset in the harbor knowing that so many people died there all those years ago.
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