• Originally published November 12, 2009 at midnight, updated November 13, 2009 at 3:55 p.m.

"And God called the dry land Earth and the gathering of the waters, called He seas: and God saw that it was good."

This week, we commemorated our armed forces with Veterans Day. Many people went cheering to parades, speeches and other special events. Some quietly went to graveyards and memorial walls where white crosses waited for someone to place a small flag there.

I know I am a little different, but my honoring of war veterans was done a bit differently, but with the same sincerity as the others. To replicate the first World War that I could remember, I left home with all my gear and I, too, stormed the beaches.

Please do not think that I am so trite or selfish that I just went fishing because we had the day off for Veterans Day. I went to the one place I knew where I could find the peace that Veterans had bought and paid for with their sacrifices, and remembered from my youth how beaches had played such a huge part in the winning of World War II.

As I stepped freely upon my beach, I thought of other beaches that had run red with blood for my right to do that. As I rigged up to fish, I remembered hearing about the beach at Dunkirk where our English Allies were surrounded on three sides by the enemy with most of their forces with their backs to the beach. Daddy would tell me the story of how every boat, public and private, that could float the English Channel had faced enemy fire and swelling waves to make trip after trip to that beach to save the English soldiers and their equipment so they could fight another day.

As I tied on a top water lure, live bait just didn't seem appropriate on this day. I thought back to the times Daddy had spread a world map on the table and pointed out the beaches our troops were storming in order to save the free world. My 6-year-old mind had the names of the beaches memorized because they were of such great importance. There was Mindanao, Luzon, Guam and Bataan beaches. Some of those we won, some of those we "would return" to and some of those we would leave forming a "Death March," but each was a way to victory at sea.

Most importantly, there were the beaches of Normandy, Utah, Omaha and others, where we Allies went on the offensive and began our march to the homeland of the enemy. I cannot even imagine how fearful our forces were as they boarded those landing crafts, knowing that they were going to storm those beaches and face their gun fire.

Dear Lord, beaches know bravery, and that is why I went to my beach to thank those G.I.s for letting me have a beach that I can call mine. God, someday maybe they will have a war and nobody will come. Maybe that is what Heaven is.

• Print
• •
• Share
  • Share this item

    Send this to a friend

    Share on FaceBook

  • Grab the link

    Copy and paste the link:

  • Blog about it

    Blog about this page.

  • Close
• •
• Post a Comment
• •
• Favorite
• •
• Report error
  • Thank you for your submission.
    Error report or correction

    Contact name (optional) Contact phone/e-mail (optional)  

    
  • Close
• •