Sacrifice

They left behind their mothers

Fathers, sisters, brothers

To face the savagery of war

Across the channel on the banks –

Of the Normandy shores

They did not falter though many fell

They hit the beaches, ran into hell

And down the years famous afar

Became the names, Gold, Juno –

Sword, Utah and Omaha

And those that returned having survived

Went on to have successful lives

Raising a family of their own

Never forgetting the one they lost

On the beaches that June morn

They have dealt with their grief

Managed their pain in the belief

That freedoms won would be protected

In memory of those who for all time

Lie in graves line upon line

In a land so far away from their own

Who paid the ultimate sacrifice

To give freedom to humanity