The Weekly Photo Challenge is “Grand” but has an extra layer this week: the “wow” factor. To stand on Omaha Beach, where my father-in-law landed on D-Day (and survived), knowing the history and seeing the distance that had to be overcome in what was literally a world-changing moment, definitely has the “wow” factor, albeit in a different way than seeing something grand and beautiful. And yet, this place is in its way, both grand and beautiful….and awesome, in the real sense of the word.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Grand
Posted: December 6, 2013 in Family, Weekly Photo ChallengeTags: awesome, D-Day, family, history, Omaha Beach, postaday, war, Weekly Photo Challenge, Weekly Photo Challenge: Grand
Comments
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Impressive Janet!
Sandra, it was a moment that doesn’t come very often. We were in the area for three days, three of the most awesome and somber days of my life.
janet
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Hi Janet, thanks for sharing the story of your father in law. Glad to hear he survived the day and days after, otherwise you would never have met your husband. I have visited the area and I love Normandy in the present time. Here are some of my shots from there http://chrisbreebaart.wordpress.com/category/d-day/
Lovely shots, Chris. Normandy is indeed beautiful, history or not, and has good food, too!
It has indeed, and drinks. Even with the history there is life to be found there.
To me, the most fascinating thing about history and what makes it really come alive are the people who lived then. History is made so boring but it’s filled with living, once-breathing people whose choices determined much of where we are today.
I agree 🙂
As a Canadian I visited Juno Beach and the cemetery there and found the experience to be very moving, as you did.
Lynne, we visited the British and Canadian areas on another day. All part and parcel of the same desire for freedom and willingness to help others maintain a/o achieve. I bless those who were willing to make that sacrifice and those who still are today. Thanks for visiting and commenting.
janet
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A beautifully moving entry, thank you for sharing.
Jeff, thanks for visiting. It was an experience that is unlike anything else I’ve felt and even better was the fact that my husband, one of our daughters and one of my sisters-in-law were there. It gave us a new perspective on my father-in-law.
janet
My grandfather served in Europe during WWII, and most of my life I’ve never thought much about it. Until the last 10 years or so when I really came to understand what “The Greatest Generation” went through.
Many of them, including my f-i-l, never talked much about it. Even a war that needs to be fought is horrific and takes a terrible toll.
Yes it does. My grandfather passed away many years ago, but my father-in-law was over there, and he never talks about it. I can only imagine what it was like.
I pray that we can always only imagine what it was like. But I fear that the current generation has no idea what went on and classifies all war as bad, in the sense of “we should stay out of it.” I home schooled our girls through high school, so I think they at least have a clue, but so many don’t. As the saying goes, “Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.” Or, in this, case, to think there is nothing worth fighting for.
I think the biggest problem, one of them anyway, is that people are so far removed from military service. There are fewer and fewer families with any kind of tradition of serving. Not that I would consider it a “tradition,” but I can’t help but think my grandfather serving in WWII and my uncle in Viet Nam, had at least some small influence in my deciding to enlist in the Air Force.
I think you’re right (and thank you for your service, BTW.) There’s a fair amount of outright hostility towards those who serve, particularly at schools that refuse to let ROTC in and so forth. There seems to be a trend towards revisionist history and to look at the bad America has done (or supposedly has done.) If children aren’t taught about what really happened and why, even allowing for varying points of view, they’re unlikely to learn why defending our country is vital. The ironic thing is that the freedoms we enjoy today were purchased by those willing to fight if necessary and are only kept intact by them as well.
You’re welcome, and so true. People talk a good game about “supporting out troops,” but that’s just it, talk. When it comes down to it I think many in this country look at the military as a place where the uneducated and underclass end up because they have no other choice. We as a country have sure put our foot in it from time to time in the past, but like you all these freedoms people take for granted were bought and paid by those willing to lay down their life for them.
A powerful and very moving experience … I can only imagine. A great take on this week’s challenge.
Thanks very much. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
janet
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Very grand and moving pics, Janet. I can only imagine how you must have felt to stand on that beach.
It was a very solemn moment!
janet
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A very beautiful interpretation Janet!
Thanks and thanks for visiting, Madhu. Hope your weekend is going well.
janet
I lost two uncles in WWII and the American Cemeteries certainly bring forth a lot of emotions.
They should for all of us as your uncles and so many more fought for those freedoms we hold so dear. Thanks for the visit.
janet
I can’t imagine how incredible and overwhelming it must have been to stand on that beach. When a place touches you personally like that, it changes everything.
It really does. Thanks so much for the visits.
janet
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This is really nice. The anniversary of US entering the war fits right in with your “grand”.
pingback: http://thoughtsandentanglements.wordpress.com/2013/12/06/weekly-photo-challenge-grand/
Thanks. I appreciate the visit, like and comment.
janet
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Reblogged this on sueshan123blog.
[…] we saw while visiting Normandy’s Omaha Beach and environs some years ago. My f-i-l landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day.. Although in the Navy, he’d been assigned to a landing party that included his […]