Memorial Day

It is, in a way an odd thing to honor those who died in defense of our country....in wars far away.  The imagination plays a trick.  We see these soldiers in our mind as old and wise.  We see them as something like the Founding Fathers, grave and gray haired.  

But most of them were boys when they died, and they gave up two lives - the one they were living and one they would have lived...   

 - Ronald Reagan     

Originally called Decoration Day - Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for those who have died in service of our country.    

The American Cemetery and Memorial is located in Colleville-sur-Mer on the bluff overlooking Omaha Beach in Normandy, France.   

Dedicated in 1956 the Cemetery and Memorial is situated closely to the site of the temporary American St. Laurent Cemetery, established by the U.S. First Army on June 8, 1944 - the first American cemetery on European soil in World War II.   

This hallowed ground is the final resting place of 9,387 of our military dead - most of whom lost their lives in the D-Day landings and ensuing operations.  Upon the walls of the Garden of the Missing you will find inscribed an additional 1,557 names.  Because old battlefields continue to yield their dead - rosettes mark the names of those since recovered and identified.  

In Plot E Row 26 Grave 37 rests James D. Johnston. Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army, 47th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division.   

click on images to enlarge
 

I have no direct connection to James Johnston, his life before the war, or his survivors following the war.  What I know is when Jill and I walked that sacred place on a typical rainy Norman morning there was no mistaking that it was the exact same unit my dad served.  Of course, my dad returned home from the war and lived a full and rewarding life.  That Johnston was from North Carolina is obvious.   A bit of research reveals that Johnston died from wounds suffered from the detonation of a German 88mm shell at the blood-stained Crossroads 114 near Acqueville just outside of Cherbourg.  Combat was fickle in the Norman countryside.  PFC Gaertner survived - Lt Col Johnston did not.  

When it came time for a permanent burial, the families of the dead were asked if they wanted their loved ones repatriated for permanent burial in the U.S. or interred overseas.  For whatever reason, Lieutenant Colonel Johnston's remains lie here with approximately 461 scattered graves belonging to 9th Infantry Division G.I.s.   

Today it is useful to remember and honor the lives that brave men and women sacrificed.   Both of those lives.    

Eight Stars to Victory - Mittelman, The Battery Press