Eighty-years ago last Thursday, June 6, began the military operation to liberate France and Western Europe from Nazi occupation.  That day is known as D-Day, the day when thousands upon thousands of Allied Forces landed on the beach of Normandy, France.  Out of the more than 150 thousand Allied soldiers who landed and fought, ten thousand died.  This week some of those soldiers who are still alive went back to Normandy; and some went back for the first time.  The oldest is 104; the youngest is 98, barely eighteen years of age, then.

Watching the commemoration and the interview, I cried.  There was one thing that I noticed during the interview: None focused on self, they all talked about what they, as soldiers, did. One summed it well that it was something that had to be done and they just got it done.  No fanfare, no self-adulation.  One of them even said that he was so touched that people still remembered it and even appreciated them for what they did eighty years ago.  They’re called heroes, but none called themselves heroes.  They’re simply soldiers’ doing their jobs.

There were a couple of takeaways that I’d like to share with you.  The first is the tombs of unknown soldiers in the military cemetery in Normandy.  The epitaph written on the cross reads, “A comrade in arms.  Known to God.”  Perhaps they’re so badly disfigured that no one could identify them.  They were unknown to men, but they were always known to God. What an assurance for us even today; we’re always known to God, no matter how badly disfigured we are.

The second takeaway is what one of the veterans said, “Freedom is not free.”  The words took my breath away.  To liberate the 50-mile stretch of land, over ten thousand lives were lost, just from one side of the battle.  Freedom is costly and that includes freedom from sin.  It cost God the life of His Only Son.  The cross is Heaven’s D-Day.

Pastor Paul