Personal Narrative: Hall Of Sacrifice

I move slowly and silently through the crowded Hall of Sacrifice at the Normandy American Ceremony. A female voice recites the names of the Americans who died in France. The voice reads on and on pausing respectfully between each name. We stand in small groups, huddled around the displays, reading each soldier’s story of sacrifice. Their valiant and selfless actions preserved democracy for future generations. A future they would not live to see. Name after name is read, and I am overwhelmed by the number of names being read. How many hours did it take to record all of their names? The voice continues amidst melancholy murmurs in English, French, German, Italian and the occasional sigh or sniffle. It surprises me that German and Italian

Occasionally, a shiny coin on top of a cross glimmers in the afternoon sun delivering the visitor’s message to the soldier’s family. Each coin has a different meaning. A penny means that someone has visited the gravesite. A nickel is left by someone who trained in boot camp with the soldier, and a dime means the visitor served with the soldier. A quarter means that the visitor was there when the soldier died. I pause at one of the Latin crosses and read, “Here rests in honored glory a comrade in arms known but to God.” Seeing the absence of a name on a headstone is distressing. I am reminded of all the names on the Wall of the Missing. One of those men may be buried here, but no one will ever know he is here. A crimson rose has been carefully leaned against the headstone, and I wish that I, too, had brought flowers to place by the graves of unknown soldiers. I wonder who has left the rose for him. I gently rest my fingers on the top of the cross. In front of me, several little girls crouch in a patch of clover. They carefully choose the prettiest daisies they can find. They walk across the grass, clutching their fistfuls of daisies and stop in front of one of the marble crosses. One of the little girls reaches out and places her daisy on the soldier’s headstone. They continue down the row, placing daisies on the headstones of soldiers who do not have