D-Day

A steel sky and a cobalt sea
The soldiers rock and roll and sway
Their hands, they shook, their stomachs turned,
And still the boats, they motored forth.

The terror and dread of the hell to come
Compelled every man to turn and run,
But steel walls on all four sides
Ensured the men stayed on this ride.

The fear was an infection, bitter in their souls,
No man felt brave, or ready to unload,
But courage is not the lack of fear,
And to the boats, the shore grew near.

The shells began to burst around,
The boat shook and shuddered with gruesome sounds,
The men aboard, they prayed and recalled,
The ones they loved, then the gate did fall…

A hundred boys with hopes and dreams,
Were gone in a second as it would seem,
The screams of the dying washed upon the shore,
Were drowned like so many men as the rest pushed forth.

The bullets, they cracked, the flames licked the sky,
The scene as unholy to make a man cry,
But courage is not the lack of fear,
And the men left the waves’ crash to their rear.

The pillboxes ahead lit with sinister glow,
And the bullets poured down like a murderous snow,
The water turned to blood and the blood ran like water,
The scene certainly Hell, had it only been hotter.

The men finally rallied and edged up the bank,
They followed who led, regardless of rank,
Because here in this chaos, this madness, this sin,
To kill was to live, and to live was to win.

The soldiers gained an inch, then a foot, then a yard,
Over the blackened sand, the scorched earth charred,
The beach started to quiet as the enemy fled,
No sound but the dying, no voice had the dead.

Now even the men, who had fought and survived,
Dreaded the moments their memories would revive,
But courage is not the lack of fear,
Their bravery unquestioned, their triumph clear.