D-Day in the flesh

My friends are here in town -- for 10 days, I get to play with a family of 6 who are up from Orlando!  We ventured into Baltimore on Friday.  Let's just say, we're done with Baltimore.  I do enjoy it, but parking is frustrating, it was raining and we drove around and around.  We went to a market in town that provided 2-3 different drug exchanges.  Good times!  It was great to see the history and the years of impact through the streets.  We saw the poverty, the glamour, the people.  It was great.  Not sure we're going to hit it another day!

Yesterday, we went to Washington DC.  My friends wanted to see the monuments and some museums.  So, we ventured to Lincoln, the Korean War and the Vietnam War Memorials.  I really hate going by the Vietnam Memorial -- I cry every time.  We headed East towards the Washington Monument.  The WWII memorial was before us, so we decided to stop.  

As we were getting into town, there were way too many cars in the Metro lot that I like to frequent.  I couldn't figure out what was going on.  Well, there was a Race for the Cure Event, the first weekend of summer, and some other things.  When we got to the WWII fountains, we saw a large group of people coming down the ramps towards us.  Why were all these people here.  And man, they were old.  DUH!!  It was June 6, the anniversary of D-Day.  And here in front of us were busloads of men who fought in those battles.  

Countless men took pictures in front of their state's pillar and in front of the quotes which talked about their service.  They looked at the bronze reliefs of different WWII scenes.  They talked about the memories with each other.  Their friends and family laughed and photographed them.  The families were so proud of their own personal heros.  These men were standing with pride and seeing what they had done.  

And it was so moving when my friends were trying to get a better glance at something in the memorial.  Upon seeing a Veteran coming, they stopped the family's procession to let this hero walk ahead first.  That simple gesture, perhaps unnoticed by the Vet or his family, it spoke volumes to me.  That was D-Day, in the flesh - remembered, honored, experienced.