Day 6 Normandie- A Day of Reflection
We started our day at the D Day / 9/11 Memorial.
By the way this was presented and maintained, we could tell how much the French people appreciated the sacrifices that were made for freedom.
There were also many artifacts sent from New York to help people realize the sacrifices still being made to maintain freedom around the world.
There will always be evil people ready to kill and enslave others. I thank God that our nation is still willing to defend the inalienable rights given by our creator: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
I wish that more of us realized, as our forefathers did, that ‘In God We Trust’ is the only place we will find that happiness.
What we see here is the overwhelming weight of sacrifice given to preserve our freedom. We leaders and the delegates were forever changed by seeing this first hand.
As we saw pictures of those smiling soldiers jump from their landing craft into hell and stood in the bunker that cost thousands of lives to wrest from the hands of tyranny and unchecked pride, even the least mature hearts melted into silent awe.
This is real. Row upon row of Marble crosses is row upon row of young heroes who gave their lives so that we can live in freedom.
This freedom has been passed on to us at great cost and we continue to pass the benefit to future generations. Our commitment to work for peace through understanding, not war, was strengthened. We began to understand what President Eisenhower knew when he started the People to People program.
This generation of delegates saw and touched the price that was paid for their privilege and opportunity.
After standing side by side with them on the beaches and among the fallen under marble crosses, I am convinced that they are beginning to understand the torch that is being passed.
I am confident they will rise to the challenge as the generation who buried their heroes here has done.
Four of our distinguished Delegates laid a wreath at the foot of the D Day memorial statue representing the spirit of those who gave their lives for freedom on these beaches. We were proud to sing our national anthem together here.
One of the most touching things I witnessed was a group of young men helping Weston Hawkins find the cross marking the final resting place of Roberta Hawkins… As we walked back, they were discussing war and their reactions to what they had witnessed today. They agreed that war was an awful thing for man to be involved in. They also knew that if they were called to defend freedom, as those who lay at their feet, they would answer that call. I’m not sure if they noticed the tears that welled up in my eye at the pride I felt to be among such brave young men.
In order to make sure conflicts like this never happen again, we are learning how to get along and how to respect other cultures. In the time we spent together on this program, we have learned to respect one another, be flexible in demanding situations, follow the rules and expressed our freedom and creativity.
We have made life-long friendships and expressed the joy of freedom as those who paid the price would have wanted.
