Letter to Leo

Dear Leo,

We never met. We were not friends nor family. Yet we find ourselves at your grave every so often. 

We do not know a lot about you. We know your name, we know you were born in 1920 and you lived in Massachusetts.  You were a son, maybe a brother, father or husband. You were  the boy next door. The all American boy with hopes and dreams of a bright future. A career, a family and a house with a white fence. With a name as Leo Murphy, you are not destined to do great things. You will likely not become president or a movie star. However you would become a hero.

You were drafted into the US army and served as a Sergeant in the 314th Infantry Regiment, 79th Infantry Division. During the second world war you came to Europe to fight for our freedom. You died on a French battlefield on July 7, 1944 at the age of 24.

Your grave is one of the 9.387 graves at the American cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer. 9.387 graves marked with marble crosses perfectly alligned with military precision, row after row after row. Graves of young American soldiers like you, on who's shoulders once the freedom of the world rested. These graves are the silent witnesses to the atrocities of the second world war and especially to the bloodshed at Omaha Beach during operation Overlord, the invasion by the Allied forces on the beaches of Normandy in 1944. The beginning of the liberation of Europe at the end of world war II.

The awarding of a Purple Heart and Bronze Star Medal is a testimony to your courage and heroism. You gave your life for our freedom. Young men should not die in a war, war should not exist. But war has existed just as long as mankind has. And it will always exist. As Plato said : 'only the dead have seen the end of war'.

Now with the world back on fire, there is only one truth. That of the freedom of all people, regardless of colour, faith or opinion : freedom of speech, freedom of religion - to believe in the God we choose or the right not to believe. The right to choose at all.

Visiting your grave every year, gives me hope. Hope that things can change, that every war can end. That the darkest of nights will always be followed by the brightest of days.  

When I will be too old to travel to Normandy, I will ask my  granddaughters to lay flowers on your grave. They will continue our tradition. It is upto us the living ones and the future generations to never forget. To remember you and your brothers in arms. To remember those who fell and those who survived the hell of war.

Leo, thank you from the bottom of my heart for the sacrifice you made. Thanks to thousands of young soldiers in a heroic battle, Europe was liberated.

May you have found eternal peace in the fields once marked by bloodshed, in the oasis of the cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach.

You are my hero. I will never forget you.