The poppies bloom in Canada in November, the plastic red petals embellishing lapels, commemorating Veteran’s/Remembrance Day. This year it is fitting to recall that 2024 is the 80th anniversary of D-day, the joint Allied invasion on the beaches of Normandy to liberate France from the Nazis. In the end, the Allies won, Hitler was defeated, the horrors of the Nazis and fascists repulsed.
2024 is the 80th anniversary of D-day, the joint Allied invasion on the beaches of Normandy to liberate France from the Nazis.
WWII veterans, “the greatest generation”, made trips in their later years to the graveyards and beaches of Normandy on honor tours, until only the centenarians remained. The baby boomers, their children, still carry the memories second-hand as they, too, fade.
The tides that brought the Allies to Europe’s shore seem to have shifted, and overt fascists are flooding back. The democracies that so many fought to protect have elected them. What beaches, literally or figuratively, lie ahead?
Khati Hendry
Thanx Khati, writing this Beaches prompt I didn’t think of the beaches of D-Day. Now you have me remembering my very moving 2018 trip to Normandy.
I haven’t visited the beaches myself, but have seen them in films and know people who have visited. I’m any case, it is impossible not to be thinking about that time again.
The beaches of Normandy. Kind of a depressing story, that fits the mood of the moment. No stories of your own escapades on beaches?
Agreed, not uplifting entirely but so be it. Of course other beach stories, but this one rose to the top now.