War's toll honored by new generation

masslive.com ^ | May 30, 2011 | Jack Flynn

[Deo volente]

Name by name, gravestone by gravestone, Emily Pin searched for a Northampton soldier's resting place at the Normandy American Cemetery.

On a bluff above Omaha Beach, the Cathedral High School junior walked along row after row of white crosses and stars of David, burial sites for 9,387 soldiers killed in the June 6, 1944 D-Day landing and weeks of ensuing combat.

Each marker summed up a young life lost - name, rank, unit, home state, date of death.

Each row stretched to the horizon.

[Deo volente]

[GlockThe Vote]

speechless.

[Gene Eric]

Parents, ask you children what level of attention their schools gave this Memorial Day.

[armymarinemom]

33 sets of twins as well as a father and son. I can only imagine the amount of grief their mothers and spouses endured.

[VanDeKoik]

I’ve never experienced my heart sinking by seeing a photo like this until now.

It seems so unfair that the world these men could have created by living a full life, was denied to them. But they created a new world by them sacrificing theirs so early.

[Deo volente]

My mom keeps a photo of a young man she knew back in upstate Pennsylvania. In the photo, he's in uniform, standing outside his home. He would later be sent over there and die at Omaha Beach the morning of June 6th. He never even made it to the beach, but was shot as he exited his landing craft. My mom still gets choked up when she sees that photo.

Her brother was at the Bulge and came home from the war without a scratch.

[ExTexasRedhead]

Arlington National Cemetery - grab a Kleenex

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzA3t5tn97U&feature=email