Veterans Day, unlike almost any other holiday in America, is broadly celebrated and deeply revered throughout the country. In DC, it is marked by ceremonies at national cemeteries, in the heartland by parades and special church services, and in Hollywood by movies that have forever captured, and accurately depicted, the bravery of our men and women in uniform.
One such movie, “Saving Private Ryan,” is as priceless as it is ageless. And to me, the most valuable part of this great movie lies in the opening scenes, where Allied Forces land at Normandy under heavy German machine-gun fire, and succeed in their mission against seeming insurmountable odds.
In real life, the D-Day landing at Normandy (June 6, 1944) cost America roughly 2400 lives. That’s right, 2400 combat deaths in one day, at one location. The Americans who poured onto that beach, determined to break through the German forces, were scared and strained by the certainty that an enemy bullet or artillery shell could end their earthly lives at any second. Yet they did their duty, and in addition to the 2400 Killed in Action (KIA) there were untold thousands more wounded in action, and others lost to POW status and MIA (missing in action) status.
Like no other war movie I’ve seen, “Saving Private Ryan” puts the horror of all this before the viewer’s eyes by presenting battle scenes in a way that show the harsh realities of war.
From the depiction of how short life became for so many of our troops when the doors on the PT boats opened and exposed them to the relentless barrage of German bullets, to the dazed and confused look in the eyes of those who made it to beach alive, only to see their best friends and fellow soldiers pay the ultimate price on Normandy’s sands, the opening scenes grip the viewer and remind everyone that there are heroes among us.
I watch Saving Private Ryan every year on November 11th. And after doing so, I contact veterans I’m fortunate to know and I thank them for their service.
Today, maybe each of you will watch “Saving Private Ryan” if you get the chance. But no matter what you watch, I hope you’ll find a veteran and thank him or her for paying the price for our freedom. The Private Ryan’s of our world deserve every ounce of gratitude we can heap upon them.
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