D-DAY

D-DAY

With anticipation mounting,

The call goes out “T minus three minutes and counting.”

He wonders if these three would be his last,

As shells ring out in the forefront, he begins to recall the past,

The smell of mom’s kitchen on Sunday afternoon,

Sneaking a kiss in with Mary on the porch swing beneath the summer’s moon,

But the nervous vomiting of the soldier nearby brings him back to the reality,

That he and his brothers in arms are about to embark on a mission for all humanity,

He kisses his rosary and asks a simple prayer to sustain,

That if he has to give the ultimate sacrifice it shall not be in vain,

Suddenly a bullet strikes Pvt. Johnson dead,

He took a sniper’s signature straight to the head,

Everyone is ordered to make landfall,

Ammunition flying above and around them all,

He trudges forward through waist deep, blood stained waters,

As the dying cry out, he reminds himself this is for our future sons and daughters,

With the vile stench of war in the air,

His eyes were fixed upon nothing he could compare,

Thousands and thousands lay dead or dying across the sandy beaches,

Victims stretched as far as the coast reaches,

As thousands more came ashore,

He began to realize what was in store,

This merely wasn’t going to be an easy defeat,

The Axis powers were simply not going to surrender and retreat,

For what seemed liked endless days and sleepless nights,

The Allied forces continued their resilient fight,

And pushed back the Germans from Normandy which they held tight,

But this soldier knew… he knew that to restore freedom would encompass a much greater plight.

-brad