Iron Maiden – "The Longest Day" (2006)

Your number’s up

The bullet’s got your name

This past June, I was part of a group of American pilgrims that visited the D-Day beaches in Normandy.

After leaving Omaha Beach – the site of the most stubborn German resistance to the D-Day landings – we travelled to the nearby Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, where 9380 of our military dead are buried:

One of the most notable Americans buried in that cemetery was Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., the eldest son of the 26th President, who was the only American general to land by sea on D-Day with the first wave of troops.  

Roosevelt was also the oldest American soldier to land on D-Day, and the only one who had a son who landed on D-Day.

Teddy Roosevelt, Jr.

Roosevelt distinguished himself on D-Day and in the subsequent fighting in Normandy.  But he died of a heart attack about five weeks after D-Day.  

He was initially buried at Sainte-Mere-Eglise – his pallbearers included Generals George Patton and Omar Bradley – but his body was later moved to the American cemetery in Normandy, next to his youngest brother Quentin, a pilot who had been shot down in France in 1918.

Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor several months after D-Day.  Here’s the text of his citation:

For gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty on 6 June 1944, in France. 

After two verbal requests to accompany the leading assault elements in the Normandy invasion had been denied, Brig. Gen. Roosevelt's written request for this mission was approved and he landed with the first wave of the forces assaulting the enemy-held beaches.  

He repeatedly led groups from the beach, over the seawall and established them inland.  His valor, courage, and presence in the very front of the attack and his complete unconcern at being under heavy fire inspired the troops to heights of enthusiasm and self-sacrifice.  

Henry Fonda portrayed Roosevelt
in the 1962 movie, “The Longest Day”

Although the enemy had the beach under constant direct fire, Brig. Gen. Roosevelt moved from one locality to another, rallying men around him, directed and personally led them against the enemy.  

Under his seasoned, precise, calm, and unfaltering leadership, assault troops reduced beach strong points and rapidly moved inland with minimum casualties.  He thus contributed substantially to the successful establishment of the beachhead in France.

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From the Normandy American Cemetery, we drove a few miles west to La Cambe, the site of the largest of the six German cemeteries in Normandy.

The La Cambe cemetery is considerably smaller than the American cemetery, but more than 21,200 German dead are buried there.

Each grave at La Cambe contains two bodies.  For example, this grave holds the remains of Alfred Berger (who died about seven weeks after D-Day) and an unknown German soldier:

In addition, a large central tumulus (or kamaradengraben), topped by a large dark cross in basalt lava, marks the resting place for 207 unknown and 89 identified German soldiers, interred together in a mass grave:
  

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Click here to listen to today’s featured song, which was released in 2006 on Iron Maiden’s 14th studio album, A Matter of Life and Death. 

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