OPINION - EDITORIAL

A lifetime ago

When the beach wasn’t a vacation

THERE was a time when the mention of D-Day-the-Sixth-of-June was said as one word. Just like December-Seventh-Nineteen-Forty-One. And what we now call Nine-Eleven. Most of us weren't even around on June 6, 1944. And those who were might have been too young to remember much. But older folks could tell you how their parents reacted to the radio news.

Do you think the French still remember the Sixth of June? We bet many of them do. Somebody tends those graves. The older folk in Normandy surely recall what the sight of those GIs meant: The Germans would be gone. The world would be young again! But not for the men left on the beaches. Or under the waves.

Reporters ask silly questions. We remember when a war movie came out--when was it, 1998? Some vets were asked to attend a preview. The movie was said to be the most realistic war movie ever made. Directed by the most famous director in the world. Starring the most famous actor in the world. The casting agency had even put out a call for limbless men to play the casualties. The opening scene was set on Omaha Beach, Dog Green Sector. Date: the Sixth of June, 1944. Everyone was impressed. The movie got rave reviews. The casual obscenity of it all went unremarked.

We remember a reporter asking an old soldier coming out of the movie: "Was it realistic?"

No, the soldier answered. But, he added, it could have been realistic--if the producers had stationed snipers in the balcony to shoot at you while you watched.

There was a time when D-Day, the Sixth of June, would make people stop on each anniversary. And remember. Reporters wrote stories about the day five years out, 10 years out, 40 years out. And how important the Sixth of June was. There was no need to explain why. The date and year was as big a part of junior high history classes as the Fourth of July 1776.

There was a time when people would remember where they were that day. Just as you remember where you were on Sept. 11, 2001. History moves on. The heart doesn't.

Nations do forget, Americans perhaps most of all. For this is the land of the future, the past is but prologue, etc. We don't talk all that much about D-Day any more. The television is full of what's called reality shows. Reality, like that day on Omaha Beach, becomes too much for us. And so we'll go to work today as usual. And come home tonight as usual. And watch some sports on TV and eat with family and get into the usual arguments and ignore our blessings. As usual.

What would the ghosts of Omaha think about that? If they did, they might conclude it was just as well. They didn't sacrifice their lives so people would mourn forever, but so we would live. They had reason to know it is the simple joys of life that are the sweetest. Like breathing in and out. And it is the simplest things that are best. Home. Family. Peace. Freedom. We'll try to remember that--as well as D-Day, the Sixth of June.

Editorial on 06/06/2018

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