2006 Letter from AMERICAN CEMETERY AT OMAHA BEACH: This letter will be about only one place. This particular place strikes an emotional chord in both of us.

We spent the morning of Memorial Day at the U.S. cemetery and monument at Omaha Beach, at the site of the D-Day invasion of Normandy. We’ve been there before, but the site continues to have a big emotional effect on us both.

The booklet that the Army gives out says that there are 9,387 graves in that cemetery. The dead include four women and three Medal of Honor recipients. Not all the young men buried there died in the invasion, because we saw a number of graves of members of bomber squadrons and many who died after the invasion. There were also a number of graves without names. They simply said "Here lies a fallen comrade whose name is known only to God".

On one side of the Christian cross or Jewish star that marks each grave is a number. Probably the number on the ID medallions that all soldiers were issued. That’s how they knew who was in that grave. Then the Army engraved each person’s name, unit and home state on the front of the marker. Incidentally, although we didn’t see it this time, we both remember at least one grave that marked the burial of a Muslim soldier. It had a crescent rather than either a cross or a star.

There is also a wall with the names of 1,557 men whose bodies were never found. Even if you didn’t know anything about World War II, the sheer volume of the names is bound to affect every visitor. There were quite a few visitors, but it was a very silent crowd. Most were Europeans, but there were other Americans present.

Directly in the center of the front of every grave were two small flags – one of the American stars and stripes, and the other of the tricolor flag of France. And there were flowers at many of the grave sites. We missed the Memorial Day ceremony because it was held on Sunday, but it was quite obvious that these men were not forgotten. The ceremonies included a U.S.A.F. fly-over, a French military band, a local priest, an army chaplain and the rabbi of a French congregation at Caen. The Commander of the U.S. forces in Europe gave the memorial address. Both French and American troops as well as a U.S. Boy Scout Troup from Heidelberg, Germany participated.