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| A D-Day commemoration on the beach of Arromanches in France on June 6, 2019, marking the 75th anniversary of the Allied landings in Normandy in World War II. (Joel Saget/Getty-AFP via Chicago Tribune) |
of D Day by genetic fate
there is no escape
is where I find myself
with only three percent left
it seems The Greatest Generation
labeled by that newsman who
needed a catchy concept to draw
his audience for the news of the day
when other networks stood ready
to step in to alter the ratings so
he found the catchy concept for
the mostly children drafted some
out of high school to be the new
war heroes even though the survivors
kept quiet about their sacrifices
often with loss of limbs
they were as voiceless as the bodies
buried in those field of crosses in
France where the living might
have found them selves if they
were as unlucky as those who
survived to become portrayed in
the films of the next life leaving
today only the three percent who
movies seem to give permission to
recount the history they had kept
secret about until the later wars
involving their children gave some
permission to reveal fears and cruelty
for those survivors once silent veterans
of that conflict between the dead and
the emotionally quiet and silent for
history to become reality not just story
Howard Winn publishes widely in literary journals such as the Hiram Poetry Review and Valley Voices Journal. His novel has been published by Propertius Press.