Today is the 75th anniversary of D-Day.
One of the most jarring scenes in any movie for me is in Saving Private Ryan. The camera takes the view of a soldier toward the back of a Higgins boat, the nerves of the young men in the boat are worked up, the front of the boat opens up for them to get out and approach to the beach, and the entire boat of soldiers falls victim to machine gun fire. As an uninformed civilian, that scene sums up my view of the sacrifice of the D-Day invasion. So many men who certainly would have preferred to be taking a different role than that on that day were forced into a meat grinder out of necessity. Some survived and some did not. However, for all of their efforts, Europe and the world are better places today.
There are a lot of battles through history that overwhelm the mind when I try to imagine myself in the shoes of someone who was there. I don't know that any battle in history compares to this one in my mind, though.
Today, my mood is thankfulness for those who have served and sacrificed for the freedoms. They're a privilege purchased at a high cost.
