On the morning of June 6th, 1944 thousands of young men sacrificed their lives on the beaches of Normandy in order to bring about the destruction of the Third Reich. Today, they are regarded as heroes for their actions. However, each nation differs in how they pay homage to their fallen soldiers from the Normandy operations and the war in general. This was best reflected in the cemeteries in the areas around the invasion beaches. It was truly a privilege to stand on the same sand where the liberation of Western Europe commenced and tour the cemeteries.
The first beach we visited was Utah beach, where the American 4th Infantry Division landed. Once I walked down to the shore line and turned around and gazed upon the same sandy slopes I was able to appreciate the magnitude of what the soldiers had been tasked with. I was stunned. It is one thing to read about these topics in books and documents, it is entirely another to be where they actually occurred. Our group also visited our first cemetery that day, the German one. I was immediately struck by the simplicity of the cemetery. In the Germany cemetery there were five crosses grouped together in various rows but the individual soldiers were marked by a plaque on the ground. These plaques were quite simple, only providing name, rank, and dates of birth and death of the individual. The most interesting bit of information on these plaques was the age of the fallen soldiers. Some were just boys, the youngest age I saw was sixteen. Some were relatively old; the oldest I saw was around forty years old, and likely able to recall the WWI. This age range highlights the state of the German armed forces at this point in the war in many instances. The cemetery wasn’t that large, and the stones were a plain brownish stone color rather than the traditional white or cream colored stone in most military cemeteries. In my mind, the purpose of the German cemetery was to remember the lives lost, but not their actions or their cause. This was in stark contrast to the American and British cemeteries.
The German cemetery, notice the lack of floral vegetation and general plainness
The grave of Michael Wittmann, a German tank ace, and his crewmen
The American cemetery was the next one we visited, and it was by far the largest and most extravagant of the three. The sections are lined with row after row of white crosses, or the Star of David, perfectly aligned from several viewpoints. These crosses contained a bit more information than those in the German cemetery, such as regiment and the state they were from. I believe the absence of the regimental information on the German graves reflects a desire to forget the military and objectives of the Third Reich while honoring the men who died. On the other hand, some of the information on the American graves was quite specific. For example, there were many instances of not only division but regiment being identified. My biggest critique of the American cemetery was the lack of personality provided to the soldier. It appeared as though they were not relinquished from their military service even in death. However, the British cemetery demonstrated a balance between honoring both the military service and the individuality of the men who gave their lives.
View of the American cemetery
The quote displayed before one walks onto the cemetery grounds
The graves at the British cemetery contained a greater diversity of representation ranging from Muslim graves to Jamaican. These graves also contain remarks from the families in addition to the military information, age, and name. It is these remarks that display a remembrance of the men not just as soldiers but also as sons, brothers, fathers, and more. I believe best embodiment of this concept was a quote from the family of C. E. A. Cox, Royal Army Medical Corps, on his grave: “The King called. He answered. The King of Kings called. He answered.” This reflects the soldier’s service to his king, country, and faith. Furthermore, the British cemetery also contained many graves marking the remains of German soldiers. This reflects the desire for postwar reconciliation between the two powers, but the same gesture is absent from the American cemetery.
View of the British cemetery, notice the floral vegetation right on the graves
When the King calls
Visiting these cemeteries and the landing beaches was compels reflection on the age on the graves across the cemeteries. In the Allied ones the age was more concentrated around the early twenties, while the German cemetery displayed a varied range from sixteen to forty years old. At the age of twenty-one, it is hard for me to imagine how I would have reacted in the situations that faced these valiant young men. It is painful to realize that the young Allied men never did see the results of their efforts and a world without a world war. This is obvious, they died of course, but it I simply have an entirely different appreciation of what they faced now that I witnessed the beaches they stormed. War has a cost, and often we forget that the statistics in our textbooks were young men and women with stories, families, and a future cut short.
Omaha Beach, the pictures does not do justice for the size of the hills the men had to storm