Class Note 1965
In June a remarkable ceremony took place on the western coast of France—one that has given me a great feeling of comfort about today’s young folks. Each of 15 high school students from all over America presented a eulogy at the graveside of a soldier from their hometown who had died in the Normandy Campaign more than 65 years earlier. These young people, two generations or more removed from the horrors of the D-Day invasion, identified with the young men who, having sacrificed their lives so that freedom could be preserved, are now buried in the American Cemetery in Normandy. The result was electric. There was not a dry eye within earshot as today’s youngsters told the stories of men of about their age, from their own neighborhoods, who died in the effort to liberate France.
The event was the culmination of months of work and study by the participants in the Albert H. Small Student/Teacher Institute–Normandy: Sacrifice for Freedom. They had read several books about World War II, Normandy and the men of the Army. They conducted research in their community and the National Archives about their fallen hometown heroes. Each student was supervised by a teacher from his or her school and members of the institute.
The students then traveled to Washington, D.C., where they listened to reminiscences of a man, who despite a remarkable ensuing career, recalls his service as a navy beach master on Omaha Beach on D-Day with riveting clarity. They laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington, Virginia, attended lectures by college faculty and active duty military officers, and conducted further archival research about their fallen heroes. Then they went to Normandy for a “staff ride” of the battlefields. They gave briefings at places like Pegasus Bridge, La Fière, Dog Green Beach and Pointe du Hoc. On the last day they went down onto Omaha Beach and then climbed the hill, following the path their soldiers had taken. At the top they reached the American Cemetery, planted French and American flags on their heroes’ graves and presented their eulogies.
The message that “freedom is not free, but requires sacrifice” resonates in today’s youth. We can be very proud of them.
Pardon me for deviating from my general practice of writing about the achievements of our classmates to share this experience that so deeply moved me. We will return to a more normal format next issue.
It’s not too late! Join our classmates for a collective 70th birthday and mini-reunion in Hanover over the weekend of July 12-14. Friday we will we will sponsor a traditional “Etiquette Dinner” at the Hanover Inn for our 2015 “Connection Class.” After a class meeting on Saturday we will enjoy an insider’s tour of the Hood Museum of Art and free time to visit with old (and new) friends. Then we will celebrate our shared birthday dinner in the Paganucci Lounge located in the Class of 1953 Commons (which we knew as Thayer Hall).
Please send me a note about what you have been doing.
—Tom Long, 1056 Leigh Mill Road, Great Falls, VA 22066; (703) 759-4255; tomlong@erols.com
