I have a fear.
I never discuss it with anyone.
I am afraid of the day when no one is left who was there.
.
No one who knows what it was like.
Firsthand.
No one who tasted fear and smelled the death.
.
No one who remembers the horror.
Or the hope.
.
.
.
“Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again”
FDR D-Day Prayer, June 6, 1944
PHOTO CREDITS:
Joel Saget/AFP/Getty
Matt Cardy/Getty
Mark Wilson/Getty
Larry Downing/Reuters
Tags: FDR, FDR D-Day Prayer, Normandy, veterans, WWII, WWII vets
June 6, 2009 at 11:06 pm
Oh, this is such a poignant post Princess. Yes, it will be such a sad day when there is no one left who remembers. But there will always be people like you to remind everyone. Thank you for this post and these pictures. xoxo
June 6, 2009 at 11:07 pm
TP, I hardly have words. I am choking back tears. Many, many thanks for posting this.
June 6, 2009 at 11:38 pm
Excellent post. I can only add what someone said, long ago, about another war: “It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. … that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion…”
Many of the old soldiers going to Normandy now know that it may be their last visit. (Among them Queen Elizabeth, who drove an ambulance during WW II.)
They carried the flag for us, then. Let’s take it up from them as they fall – it’s up to us now.
June 7, 2009 at 12:17 am
What an amazing post. I too share your fear, but I am thankful for people like you who remember those who were there.
June 7, 2009 at 12:57 am
This is just amazing…i think about it also. Thank you for taking time to help us all remember!
June 7, 2009 at 1:02 am
Princess. Thank you. My father’s brother and father both died in WWII. Thank you.
June 7, 2009 at 1:21 am
We should all be so thankful for our veterans. God bless
June 7, 2009 at 1:57 am
Beautifully, movingly presented; of course you are right!
June 7, 2009 at 2:05 am
Thank you for this post!
June 7, 2009 at 5:15 am
Greatest post ever.
June 7, 2009 at 1:43 pm
Beautiful.
June 7, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Well done.
June 7, 2009 at 8:20 pm
It will be a sad day when those that were there are not here to remind us of what it was like. Thank you for the photos and the great post!
June 7, 2009 at 8:49 pm
This is a stunning, poignant and beautiful post. We won’t lose the message if we strive to constantly teach our children….so they in turn do the same to their children. If we all can just slow down and start talking to our young. The reminders are so important and provide so much.
June 7, 2009 at 11:28 pm
We’re already down to the last American veteran of World War I.
June 8, 2009 at 1:39 am
simply and beautifully stated.
June 8, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Powerful post. Well done. Brilliant.
Do. this. More.
June 8, 2009 at 4:10 pm
what a great post, like others i felt emotion and tears…
June 8, 2009 at 7:46 pm
Touching and poignant post. He-weasel was watching a movie about WW1 this weekend and I was so struck by a line “No one will ever know what we endured; no one.” Your post reiterates that sentiment.
June 8, 2009 at 11:24 pm
This got me really teary eyed. Truly the greatest generation of men (and women).