Omaha Beach 2009 - 1 - We decided to remember my father by sort of following his footsteps as he arrived in Normandy for the first time.
He disembarked here on June 7, 1944, the day after D-Day. He never spoke much of the War, but he did say this to us:
"We were replacements, but, as soon as we hit the sand, we were no longer replacements -- we were combatants."
Judy and I arrived at Omaha Beach to sustained winds of 30-45 mph and 8-10 foot seas, resembling, a bit, the conditions under which those boys disembarked in 1944.