A day in my life that made be proud to be an American

While there have been many times in my life when I’ve been proud to be an American, one that sticks out is during the summer of 1993 when my wife and I, and an English teacher colleague, hosted a trip to Europe. Our group included 13 Urbana High School students and 11 adults.

Normandy American Cemetery

On the way from Mont Saint-Michel to Paris, I asked our courier if we could go by the Normandy American Cemetery above Omaha Beach where my cousin, Bruce Elliott, had landed with the 741st Tank Battalion in the early morning of June 6, 1944, for the D-Day invasion. The courier agreed and said it was worth the drive.

 It was a personal stop for me, and I thought it would be a teaching moment and an educational experience for the students. At the time, many of them didn’t see it that way. One student later wrote, “When I first heard we were going to a war cemetery in France, I didn’t know what to think. I wondered why we’d spend time in a cemetery.”

But we all got off the bus and walked through the entrance and out into the cemetery where 9,389 Americans are buried, 307 of them still unidentified. Nearly 1,600 names are listed on the Wall of the Missing.

Proceeding down the walkway to the cemetery, a monument had words reading, “This embattled shore, portal of freedom, is forever hallowed by the ideals, the valor and the sacrifices of our fellow countrymen.”

Everyone became quiet as we walked through the precisely laid out rows upon rows of graves, marked by white marble crosses and Stars of David. A small chapel was at the center of the cemetery.

The group spread out, walked slowly among the markers and stopped to read names of those who had died in the invasion nearly 50 years ago at that time, many of them had barely stepped foot on French soil. Many of them didn’t even reach shore.

Some students walked down the hill to the beach and silently stared out across the water. I stood on the hill before I walked down to the beach where my cousin and thousands of U.S. troops had landed. Nearly 2,400 had been killed or wounded that first day of the landing.

When we got back on the bus, it was solemn. The lesson that we all learned – adults and students – and had reinforced, was to more deeply appreciate the cost so many had paid for the freedom we enjoy.

 I heard many comments about the visit to the cemetery later, all indicating that it was an impactful visit. The same student who wondered why we were stopping at a cemetery wrote, “When I stood at a beach where others took a stand and died, I knew my connection to events of long ago tied me forever to them. I see differently now in the present.”

I think we were all proud to be Americans that day.