What do you do to honor D-Day?

It's when I have a get together with the guys I've bled with, catch up a bit, and reflect on our own experiences. I can't think of a more practical way of honoring the men of Normandy, than taking care of my brothers in my own generation.

When I was station in Belgium every year we use to visit the national cemeteries in France, but since then we just read about!

I paused to reflect on the service of my Grandfather and his three brothers in law that served during World War II. Grandpap was a Seabee that loaded the landing craft headed to the shores of Normandy. My Great Uncle Wilbert Vollmer (a first Generation American from German immigrants) was in the first wave that landed on Utah Beach. (This I just learned in the last two weeks while looking over my grandmothers journal she kept during the war).

All four survived the war and returned home. Two of the brothers served with General Patton as he swept across Europe.

I wish I had listened to them all more when I was younger. They did not speak much of the war - only when someone showed an interest or they were older and reflecting back on their lives.

I honor them by listening more now to those Veterans that are still around - and to those who served in Korea and Vietnam - and to my brothers and sisters who have served with me from Desert Storm to Iraq and Afghanistan.

I listen - I remember.