They Made it Off the Beach

Taken at the Normandy American Cemetery with Omaha Beach in the background. The cemetery contains the remains of 9387 American service members. All but one died in Normandy 1944. There are 41 sets of brothers and three Medal of Honor Recipients.

One of those recipients is Brig. Gen. Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., who died of heart failure a month after leading his troops ashore on Utah Beach. He had requested to be buried with his brother Quinton, a fighter pilot who died in France in 1918. So Quinton's body was moved and placed beside his brother.

If you ever make it to Normandy please take the time to visit this cemetery and memorial. As well as the cemetery it also has a good museum on the grounds that is worth visiting before heading out amongst the headstones. It's hard not to tear up seeing rows of headstones and just beyond them seeing the beach where many of them died. On the more positive side this cemetery is often visited and they are not forgotten, which is sometimes the case in some of the more far-flung military cemeteries around the world.

Colleville-Sur-Mer, France