On the Beach

Seventy years and several months ago, my dad was bouncing around in a small boat just off this inoffensive-looking beach, which was then covered with obstacles, burning ships and tanks, and a lot of dead soldiers. My dad was ready to join Eisenhower’s great crusade, and though he didn’t land until three days after the Omaha Beach invasion, he watched the whole thing from his transport along with everyone else in his unit, leaning over the rail even though all the officers kept telling them to...