the last full measure of devotion

On Wednesday we toured the D-Day beaches. The combination of my history degree and Catch 22 had me kind of skeptical about all the Greatest Generation stuff. It's impossible to be a cynic at Normandy, though. Jason, who recently visited, describes pretty much exactly what I felt in his blog post on the subject, so I'll just quote him:

"Visiting Normandy was a great experience. As a California liberal pants-wetter I not only believe that all wars are regrettable but that war-making is something we should be able to transcend as a people. So being at the site of justly-celebrated use of American might made me feel a strange mix of emotions.... I can honestly say that in standing there I felt proud of being American for the first time in as long as I can remember. You're looking at a largely intact piece of German artillery and you know that this was the German Army and not the Nazis who were (you try not to over-dramatize) killing your people and you can't help think to yourself 'Yes, this is good. It's good that this was destroyed. The people who destroyed this were right and I'm proud of them for having done so.'"

Word.

One more note on my visit: as I walked through the American cemetary, lines from the Gettsyburg Address kept popping into my head. I realized that it's not only a kick-ass speech about America, but also a spot-on description of military cemetaries, and what they stand for. Check it:

"But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here."

That is SO true -- the overwhelming feeling I had at Normandy (and the Vietnam Wall, and Gettysburg) was that nothing I or anyone else could say or do would be equal to what happened there. So, thanks to Abraham Lincoln and Jason, two of my favorite orators, for expressing my feelings about our fallen soldiers better than I could. Tomorrow, back to our regularly scheduled programming of pictures of me jumping and elaborate descriptions of various foods I've consumed.