D-Day 65 years later.

Yesterday was the 65th Anniversary of D-Day. Maya and I watched a documentary on PBS and were greatly moved by the images of the Battle of Normandy, the liberation of the concentration camps, and the terrible price paid by the allies and particularly the Canadians as they stormed the beaches. So few are left to remember and this will be the last anniversary for most of the remaining veterans.

In the "Legacy of War" Walter Cronkite broke down and wept at the memorial site as he was saying that the terrible human losses in the Second World War should have been enough to deter all further wars. We know with hindsight, that nations have continued to wage wars and that atrocities have piled up year after year. The great liberator of WW 2, the USA has gone on to commit its own atrocities in new wars; the victims of the concentration camps settled in an Israel that is now committing atrocities as well. The Arab world remaines mute in the face of atrocities being committed by their cohorts. Yes, it is enough. What is wrong with the human race that we know how to kill and maim, but we're not real good at compromise and peace?

I actually remember the liberation of Holland (1945) as sound. All my short life Holland lived under the curfew of the Nazi occupation. Streets were devoid of human sound at night. The sounds we heard were the buzz bombs, air raid sirens and jack boots, but never, ever song, music and laughter. So of course I would remember the late night sounds of partying and jubilation in the streets as I lay in my bed. I was infused with a sense of joy and some fear as well, because these were very new sounds to me. I also remember the night was bright not dark. Could that have been lights, because the blackout was lifted? I don't know because I never asked anyone. It was awe inspiring.

Just like the Swiss bread air dropped in the food parcels, those sounds of jubilation will never leave me.