Posts Tagged ‘war’
In memoriam
Posted: May 27, 2019 in MiscellaneousTags: cemetery, holidays, in memoriam, Memorial Day, Normandy, Omaha Beach, the fallen, war, WWI, WWII
Grace at dVerse challenges us “to write from the perspective of the dead man (or woman).” Here’s my poem. My photo is, I admit, from WWII, but it’s closely related and WWII figures into my poem, albeit obliquely.
Above us “In Flanders field the poppies blow…” And grow, too (as well they should given our bones and flesh and blood gone to fertilizer) gone to grow not peace but yet more war another layer of human fertilizer above us When will they ever learn? No doubt never “Man” being what he is But there are things worth fighting for and so we gave our all (and cheered those left behind to live and grow above us)
Weekly Photo Challenge: Abandoned
Posted: February 28, 2014 in Weekly Photo ChallengeTags: France, Pointe Du Hoc, war, Weekly Photo Challenge, Weekly Photo Challenge: Abandoned, WWII
The rest of this week’s photo challenge entries can be found here: http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/02/28/photo-challenge-abandoned/.
To read about the U. S. Rangers assault, including scaling the picture cliff, on Pointe du Hoc on D-Day, go here: http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/wwii/dday/pointeduhoc.aspx.
December 7th
Posted: December 7, 2013 in Family, MiscellaneousTags: December 7, Pearl Harbor Day, remembrance, war
My mom was born on this day 84 years ago. I’m sure her birthday in 1941 wasn’t the best birthday she ever had. That day was the beginning of suffering for many Americans, including those Japanese-Americans who were interned unjustly and for so long.
Although war isn’t pleasant to think about, we need to remember and to teach our children what happened and why, as best we can. This short video serves both to honor those who fell at Pearl Harbor and as a simple reminder.
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
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.
Friday Fictioneers: Remembrance
Posted: October 2, 2013 in Family, Friday FictioneersTags: D-Day, family, flash fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Omaha Beach, one hundred word story, short story, war, writing, WWII
Friday Fictioneers. One hundred words to tell a story, a snippet of life told tightly. Does it succeed? You let me know.

Copyright E. A. Wicklund
Remembrance
Standing there, he can only imagine (because Dad had rarely spoken of it), dropping into the Higgins boats, men crying, boys stiff with fear; your best friend dying next to you in the ocean red with blood, men drowning as their water-filled helmets trapped them under waves. After staggering the long yards through waist-deep ocean, the vast expanse of Omaha Beach still waiting, filled with mines and hedgehogs and openness, the deadly rain of ammunition falling all around. Behind, the inexorably rising tide; ahead, the unknowable.
The gulls’ hoarse cries echo the forgotten screams of the defiant and the dying.
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A snippet of what my father-in-law and so many others experienced on this and other beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944.
Higgins boats: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LCVP_%28United_States%29
Hedgehogs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czech_hedgehog
My father-in-law’s ship:
Want to read more stories? Click here.
D-Day
Posted: June 6, 2012 in Memories, Miscellaneous, Musings, PersonalTags: American cemetery, anniversary of D-Day, D-Day, Germany, memories, military, Normandy, personal, prisoner of war, veterans, war, WWII
In a moment of serendipity, today on the anniversary of D-Day, while shopping, I met a veteran of the United States Airforce and his wife. I thanked him for his service and we talked awhile about his experiences. (more…)
Lest we forget
Posted: May 28, 2012 in Family, Memories, Musings, PersonalTags: Memorial Day, memories, Omaha Beach, personal, Remembrance Day, war, WWII
Memorial Day. In memory. (more…)