Chasing a Dream

Everybody is chasing their dreams day and night. Sometimes some dreams are completed and some dreams remain incomplete. I think if there were no dreams there won't be a driving force behind human being. I always had this dream of visiting some important places of world war II. On 8th May, I fulfilled my this dream by visiting Omaha Beach. I am always fascinated by second world war. Yes it was sad and many people died in it. But it is very important event in the history. Many innovations were made in WW2. It changed geography of the whole world. Many countries became free after war. People started working positively to build new world which would be peaceful. I always think we can simply divide the time in two parts. The one before war and the time after the war.

Allied forces started their front against Germans in Europe on 6th June 1944 by landing on western beaches of France. This day was called as D-Day. But, this was not simple. Germans offered very tough resistance and there was very fierce battle on these Landing beaches. Omaha beach witnessed one of the fierce battle of history of world. On 8th May 1945, Nazi Germany was defeated and world war was over in Europe. Many countries in Europe celebrated the seventieth victory day on this 8th May. I always wanted to visit such a important place in WW 2. And I happened to visit Omaha beach on 8th May i.e victory day. When I booked ticket I was not aware that it is victory day. I booked return ticket to Bayeux; a small town near D day beaches. I had no plans about how to reach from railway station to beach. I read on online articles that there are buses running from Bayeux railway station to Beach with little frequency. But, to my surprise bus service was off because of victory day. Luckily two girls, students from New York and a old couple from Arizona also wanted to visit Omaha beach. So we decided to share taxi.

Slowly while talking with four Americans I got to know that, Old man was in US Army. Of the two girls, one is working and studying in Paris and one is studying Law in US. Americans are good talker. They were very curious about India. While going to Omaha we talked about many things. We formed a team of visitors to Omaha beach. After reaching Omaha beach, we planned to meet the same point at 6 PM and dispersed. There are three places to visit. One, Omaha beach second American cemetery, third visitor center. I decided to start by visiting the Cemetery first. It is huge cemetery with about 2000+ American soldier's final resting place. These are those who fought bravely while landing on Omaha beach. It is very well maintained and very beautiful place on the hills of Omaha. On each cross, name of soldier, his city and day of death is written. Names of Medal of Honor winners is written in gold. All cross are made of marble. Many people were visiting the cemetery, offering roses and flowers, and respect in mind. I spent some time there took some photos, read the messages. For the soldiers who were not identified were written "Here rests in Honored Glory A Comrade In Arm known But to God ". I am very happy that I visited this place.

After visiting cemetery I climbed down the hill to the Omaha Beach. While going below I saw the German bunkers. Two concrete bunkers are still in good condition. While walking on the beach I was thinking about the how hard it would have been for soldiers to fight against Germans. I was on Omaha beach. I fulfilled one of the dreams I seen. I was very happy. Next I visited the visitor center. It is a small museum of war. It contains some equipment used by soldiers. It shows short films of war. They are informative. After seeing all these, I came to meeting point at 5'O clock, one hour early. After few minutes, our team's old members came. We had almost one hour to chat. We discussed on many things about each others country. It was nice discussion. By 6'O clock everybody was gathered and taxy came exact on time and then we returned to our destinations.

While returning to Paris I was thinking what an unusual day I had! It was pleasant, strangers from different parts of the world became friends. Hope our paths will cross again someday.