Reflecting on Normandy, Ten Years Later

by Drew Holmes

In June of 2014, I had the opportunity to do something extraordinary. In honor of the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy, GORUCK had one of their signature Challenges beginning at Omaha Beach. As part of the event, my group carried a team weight that was my WWII era cornet which, at one point, had been in one of the US Army Bands.

The next morning, at the end of the all-night event, I had the privilege of sounding Taps at the Omaha Beach Monument on that cornet. The gathered crowd fell silent as I began, and I played flawlessly. Looking back on that day now, I had a nagging thought: what gave me the right to do that?

I’m not a professional trumpet player. I never served in the military. I’m not a politician, world leader, or university academic. I’m just some guy from East Bridgewater, Massachusetts, who happened to bring a cornet to France. I will always feel pride at having done it, but was I the right person for the task?

This thought wove through my head as I was rewatching the HBO series Band of Brothers, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg’s tribute to the brave men of Easy Company of the 101st Airbourne during World War II. I am always in awe of the burden upon the actors to respectfully and accurately portray these real men and events.

Each episode focuses on a historical event in the war, usually from the perspective of one of the soldiers. Like the episode showing the battle of Carentan, which follows a shell-shocked Private Blithe and his struggle with what he has endured. Or when “Bull” Randleman is isolated behind enemy lines and works his way back to his unit. Or the winter in the Ardennes, with “Doc” Roe desperately trying to find scissors to treat the men wounded in battle. These are all normal men thrust into extraordinary circumstances.

This is best embodied by Dick Winters, the commanding office of Easy Company. In the early episodes he is building trust with his men who have difficulty trusting because he abstains from consuming alcohol or using foul language. They grow to love and respect him as he proved himself in battle, but in those early times he is an enigma they cannot grasp.

In the past, I have seen this purely as a character arc, the building of the bonds of brotherhood. But this time I saw it differently. Dick Winters didn’t drink or cuss not because he thought he was better than the rest of the men. He did it because that was who he was, no more, no less. He was just a regular man put into an extreme situation. He answered the call and did his job to the best of his abilities.

Thinking of this miniseries and the real men portrayed on the screen, I wonder about the actors who were cast in these roles. Did they have the same feelings of doubt and imposter syndrome? Did they question if they were worthy to honor the men who sacrificed everything to fight in the war?

Then I remember — the heroes who fought at Omaha Beach on D-Day were just ordinary men in an extraordinary situation. They used their skills and talents to do the job to the best of their abilities and afterwards most went back home to live their lives in peace.

In his memoir, Dick Winters recalled a quote from his friend Mike Ranney. Mike’s grandson asked, “Grandpa were you a hero in the war?” Mike’s reply was, “No…. but I served in a company of heroes”.

I will never be a soldier and am unlikely to find myself in a war. But I can honor those men by using my skills to the best of my abilities. Looking back at that day on hallowed ground in France, for an ordinary trumpet player from Massachusetts it was enough.