As the 6th day of June arrives and goes each year, there seems to be little significance placed on the importance of this day and what it means to the freedom we enjoy here in North America. It was exactly 75 years ago when some of our brightest and bravest took on the task to recapture Europe from Nazi occupation and ending almost 6 years of atrocities. There will be grand celebrations this year as we commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day, but it rings deafly on a generation of entitled who cannot fathom the true meaning of sacrifice.
I had a chance to visit the beach in France last year and to say that it stirred up emotion would be an understatement. I would visit the graves of Miramichi men who fell that day and I could not imagine the sorrow when news would have hit back home. I had read accounts in Monsignor Hickey’s book, “The Scarlet Dawn”, yet nothing could prepare me for the rush of sadness as we walked through the graveyard. Over the next 24 hours, we would visit cemeteries that would be the resting place for close to 80,000 young people, all who were willing to pay the ultimate price including close to 30,000 Germans, some as young as 14. There is no age requirement in senseless struggles no matter the victorious or the loser.
I think that the reality of what war entails was more realistic in the 2nd World War as the picture was painted in the first version. As I read Father Murdoch’s “The Red Vineyard”, his account of his service during the Great War, it was clear that life would never be the same for those that returned. Those that did not suffer physically were eternally marked with what we now know to be PTSD. In those days it was called shellshock.
Today we have many that struggle with the realities of everyday life and society has become more aware through education and dialogue. This does not lessen the struggle, it just helps those who would label it to show more compassion. Of course, much like war, some of these battles are fought with the help of others while some perish on the battlefields of life, all alone. Remembering should not be isolated to single days or anniversaries, and age does not determine who will or will not struggle. We may be called to sacrifice so others can live as normal as possible. It is what we are called to do just like those who answered and now rest across the ocean. They were great examples and we can be the same. When we understand this, we will never forget.