"On the Bluffs of Omaha Beach" Bayeux by Geisha_Girl

Along the fifty-mile strip of French coast, the land was rocked by successive explosions as the shells of ships' guns tore holes in fortifications, and tons of bombs rained on them from the skies. Between the hours of 0300 and 0500 on the morning of June 6, 1944, over 1,000 aircraft dropped more than 5,000 tons of bombs on the German defenses. The official record stated that:

“within 10 minutes of ramps being lowered, the leading company had become inert, leaderless, and almost incapable of action….It had become a ‘struggle for survival and rescue.”

They say that every American, British, and Canadian soldier who set foot on the beaches of “Omaha” and “Utah” that day is forever a hero. Their actions played a critical role in the success of that infamous battle, and the death and destruction of the Nazi Empire. They say the safety of the free world can be directly related to the actions of the men who came ashore on Omaha Beach that day, June 6, 1944. D-Day.

On that cold, rainy, windswept day, Dec. 12, 2005, I came to pay my respects for these soldiers, as a tribute to my own father who is a war veteran himself.