Operation Honor: D-Day Morning in France

Omaha Beach at 0630 on June 6th, 2014.
70 years ago, 0630 was "H-Hour"- the moment the attack on the beaches began.

We woke up early this morning in order to be on Omaha Beach at H-Hour. It was haunting to be walking on the same sand where on June 6th, 1944, the bloody battle for Europe was beginning to rage. As we walked on the pale sand and watched the rough, windblown sea grass dip in the morning breeze, scenes from the movie "Saving Private Ryan" kept floating through our heads. Those who saw this movie can picture the horror and carnage on Omaha Beach that the movie so accurately depicted. Seventy years later, however, on this morning, the scene is peaceful and calm. 

The sand that was once stained red with rivers of blood from three thousand dead Americans is now white and studded with beautiful shells. 

In 1944, the sky was streaked with the smoke of hundreds of tons of explosives; today, it is filled with the warm golden light of the rising sun. 

The water that seventy years ago held the floating corpses of dead boys now ripples gently up and down the shore.

As we walked along the shoreline, we were able to witness an extraordinary sight: a group of reenactors in full combat gear who had also come to be there at H-Hour. In a moment that was profoundly symbolic, they planted an American flag in the damp, gray, sand by the waves. 

This land, once a slave to the Nazi regime, is free. The swastika no longer flies over the fields of France- and the French people remember it. They have not forgotten the sacrifice that the greatest generation made for them. This morning, as the land of France begins to celebrate the 70th anniversary of their liberation, we are overwhelmed and grateful to be part of this amazing and life-changing event.