Memorial Day

 For those who don't understand what this day means to this country, I hope this helps for it is the remembrance I hold.

I look above at the gray skies that have not yet fully seen the light of day. It is filled with death to our enemy as the shells from the fleet continue its bombardment of the shore. It is hours old yet still they rain down from the skies. I can only pray it has the effect we all hope for as our small craft chugs toward the shoreline.

I look around at the faces that stand beside me. There is no expression. Are we all the same, are we all resolute yet fearful as to what is about to happen to us? These boats that carry us forward seem nothing more than giant tubs that flail against the tides. The seas are heavy and we do whatever we can to stand. The closer we get the more they rise and fall to the power of the ocean. My stomach long ago relieved itself of what little breakfast I had. And I am not the only one. The sea that lurches above us and drenches us with its cold hand adds to the slickness of the deck. We are nearly piled on top of each other.

We have been given the order and I feel the grip of fear rise within me. I am shaking like never before. I have never been so afraid in my life yet for some reason fierce in my determination to fulfill my duty. It is what I must do; it is what we all must do. That is why we are here. There has been no attempt to hide from us what we will face yet it seems so more real now that I ever could have imagined.

The horn sounds and the door drops as our lander slams to a halt into the sands. The sea rushes in as we hear the stinging pelts of bullets pepper the metal around us. We rush forward with the screams of warriors, the rifles of the first rows of my brothers attempting to answer the enemy but they are little more than the sting of a bee against the onslaught.

I push forward behind the backs of my brethren and I am aghast at what has befallen them. Our first wave lays dead or screaming in agony in the sea, now stained red by the blood of hundreds. I charge forward now silent as I struggle to survive. My weapon is nothing more than a crutch to help me get to the next barricade. These few seconds off the boat are a lifetime as time stands still, a new reality that is a soldier’s fate; my fate. As I surge forward I am dropped into the muddy surf as something slams into my legs. I roll to push it away and am wide-eyed as I realize it is what is left of my bunkmate from our quarters. My voice screams into the heavens only to be lost to the sounds of the rockets still streaming overhead. They have done little to soften the blow.

My rage begins to build and I will not let the fate that has come to my brothers come to me. Now free, I turn and lay on my stomach and fire blindly onto the shore as the returning surf blows back across my face stinging my eyes. I feel the salt enter a bloody wound on my arm, a gash torn into my flesh I did not know was there. My anger builds and it is the first time I have returned fire in anger. I push forward and fall again as another from behind falls on top of me. Another casualty that has come from my boat, another call to me to push forward.

At last I am able to rise to my feet and run; run to survive; run to live and face another day. As I dive forward my back comes to rest against a barricade of wood and steel spikes that have been driven into the shifting sands. It is my refuge this moment as I look out to where I have come from. Before me the world is filled with ships and hosts of men rallying to me. I look down and see now a bloody rip in my trousers as the salt and sand continue to pour across my body. But it is not time for me to rest. It is not time to fall. I look around and the sands are strewn with death, the lifeless bodies of those now torn beyond recognition at the barbarity of this day.

I breathe deeply and take measure of myself for this is my fate, for I have chosen it. I surge forward with those that now overtake me. It is a day I hope to remember if I live through it, yet still forget.

 

Now, what seems a lifetime ago for it is in years and also memories, I stand here in remembrance, looking out across the shore where my life nearly ended all those decades ago. This ground is nearly sacred to me and I remember those I stood beside and those I lost on that day. I may never again see this sight as my world slowly comes to an end and I will likely not see this day again in my lifetime, for there are few of us left. My only prayer is there will remain someone to remember me, to remember them and all that we fought for.

This day is a remembrance for the fallen that we may live in peace.