Sand from Omaha Beach used to fill in the letters on their tombstones of the fallen.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Every year in France, there's a ceremony that rarely makes headlines.

Ordinary people & families collect sand from Omaha Beach — where Americans lost 2,400 lives on D-Day.

Then, they use it to fill in the letters on their tombstones of the fallen.🌎❤️🇫🇷

Link to tweet

[Harker]

1. That's dedication...

and tremendous respect.

[Dennis Donovan]

2. Recommended

Touching tribute.

[True Blue American]

4. My late Husband was wounded there.

Third man stepped on a land mine, second was badly injured, he was hit by shrapnel.

Lived to go across Europe to help liberate the Concentration Camps. I have Brownie Pictures and a German gun with permission slip from the Commanding Officer to bring it home.

[cate94]

10. Wow

My next door neighbor was at Normandy the day after. He had to help bury the dead. He ended up with PTSD, but growing up next him, we just thought he was a grump. His youngest was a best friend who knew nothing about his experience in the war until after he passed. His papers and letters made it clear and his harshness suddenly made sense.

We went on a river cruise a few years ago. We happened to be at Normandy the day after the DDay anniversary. The people there still love Americans for what those young men did. I brought my friend a small bottle of sand from the beach, since that was where she lost part of her dad.

[True Blue American]

13. Omaha Beach,second wave.

We watched a movie at Wright Pat Air Force Museum a couple of years ago. Pictures of the real thing.

[cate94]

15. Can't imagine what those kids went through.

[True Blue American]

18. 18 years old. My Dad was 35.

A kid, I was worried to death about him.

[oasis]

3. D-Day was the beginning of the end for Hitler. Those brave warriors

changed history and deserve every honor.

[True Blue American]

5. Yet it took 40

Years to Present them with a Medal of Valor in a local ceremony where we watched a couple of hundred men cry as their Chaplain described their terrible march across Europe into Germany where the Germans welcomed them into their homes ,shared what little they had.

My Dad was an Engineer building bridges for the Infantry. Neither one talked about it.

[oasis]

7. The Greatest Generation. nt

[cate94]

14. Bill was an Engineer

For building bridges!

[rateyes]

6. My great Uncle lies buried beneath one of those crosses.

[Lonestarblue]

8. Lovely tradition.

Seeing the American Cemetery in Normandy is a moving experience. And today we fight out own fascists.

[panader0]

9. When my youngest daughter returned from Europe she gave me a small jar of sand from Omaha beach.

Two of my uncles were at Normandy. Neither was wounded, but one later had his right calf muscle
blown off at the Battle of the Bulge.

[AZ8theist]

11. This happens in France...

Remember how the Reich wing went apoplectic when the French wouldn't allow the use of their airspace to bomb Libya?
The stooges in the Repuke party in congress were calling french fries "freedom fries" and a bunch of other nonsense?

If any of these mental midgets knew ANYTHING about history, they would have learned that the French SAVED OUR ASS in the revolution against England. But NO, they're too fucking stooo pit to understand book lernin' ....

France today maintains that hollowed ground for eternity. They respect our soldiers sacrifice against fascism (Antifa anyone?) more than the Reich Wing IMBECILES we have in America today.

Vive la France!!!

[paleotn]

12. Exactly....

If not for the French, today we'd have QE II and D.G. Regina on our money. And our quirky, complicated and messy form of democracy would never have been born. Nor would our Bill of Rights, which in my opinion is still the envy of the world.

[Shanti Mama]

16. The US's sacrifice in WWII is one reason why America is still so beloved

Among Asians and Africans it's more about opportunity and expression, but in Europe they can still remember.

[packman]

17. My uncle was in the Army during the invasion

And many decades later, he and his wife saved enough from his steelworker's salary to go on a cheap tour of Europe. Going through customs in France, a bored and rather arrogant (his impression) agent asked him as they were inspecting their baggage if their visit was
business or pleasure. He replied pleasure and the agent asked what type of pleasure were they expecting in France. He replied that the last time he was in France he didn't have much time to explore the beaches of the country. "Oh", the agent asked, "And what beaches are you going to visit on your pleasure trip this time". He replied Omaha, Gold and a few others that he and his buddies landed on.

Strange - of all the things he must have experienced and done - he was a medic, this is the only story I can recall he told about his time in France.

[True Blue American]

19. My husband

Never wanted to see it again. He spent a lifetime forgetting.