Over ten years ago we drove to Omaha Beach through the small back roads of France. It was a delightful countryside. We were headed for the 1944 D-Day landing beaches of Normandy, France. Along the way we were surprised to see a number of small German, French, English and Australian World War I cemeteries . Each site was meticulously cared for. The larger cemeteries often contained a plain concrete building with dark windows. I found out later that these were Ossuary building or a "bone repository" for the unclaimed skeletal remains from the Great War's battlefields.
These small roadside cemeteries cast a rather disquieting spell over our touring group. The collection of international roadside grave plots in France were too close in a timeline to Omaha Beach. European history suddenly comes alive and you remember that all of France was a war zone. By comparison, the U.S. seems relatively untouched. There are major battlefield sites, like Gettysburg, or the Little Big Horn, but they are separated by geography and a more distant past. Memorial Day was a big deal when we were young. I remember a silent parade to the local cemetery. We shuffled along to a drum cadence wearing our Scout uniform to plant flags by the veteran's grave sites.
It was dusk when we arrived at Omaha Beach, the tide was out and the only sound was the surf. Hunks of concrete stuck out of the sand. We noticed the beautiful green velvet hills in the distance as we walked on the beach. There was no one else in sight.
