by Kevin Lamb

Created on: July 07, 2009   Last Updated: July 24, 2009

Albert had always been drawn to the beach. Although he had actually never been to one he had seen the ocean and some beaches several times in postcards. Albert had longed for the day when he would finally be at the beach himself. Now his wishes were going to come true, but not exactly as he had hoped.

The day of his big adventure came along with an upset stomach. Maybe it was something he ate at breakfast; more than likely he was just nervous. Albert really didn't like being hasty, and today looked like one of those days that was going to be filled with activity.

Everyone seemed to be in a big hurry to leave at exactly the right time. "Are we going to go or not, and what was all of the commotion about?" Albert began to wonder. Then more news about the tide and the moon. What the heck he just wanted to see the beach.

The trip had been a long one and it was almost time to embark on the final leg of his journey to the beach. The time was now 5:00 AM and his stomach was still giving him fits as he changed his mode of transportation. Albert bent over and threw up relieving some of the stress in his stomach.

He watched the full moon and made some small talk to an acquaintance of his. The two of them talked about home and the ones they had left behind. And now Albert was starting to get emotional; like this was going to be the end of the road or something.

"Just another walk in the park," Albert had remembered saying when he got up that morning. But he knew today was special by the look on the faces he saw that morning on June 6th 1944. He was going to the beach alright; one of the beaches of Normandy France for the big invasion; D-Day.

The word from General Eisenhower had just come through and it (operation Neptune as it was called) was on. Over 160,000 troops would embark at 6:30 AM to five beach sectors of France and Albert was going to Omaha beach.

It sounded like a nice beach Albert thought to himself. He wondered how the day would turn out. Would it be sunny as forecasted or would it be cloudy. If he had the chance he'd love to swim in the ocean and check out the surf.

"Move back!" A voice shouted as everyone shifted to make room for more troops. Albert was crunched up in the rear of his amphibious unit. Every time the boat hit a wave the weight of everyone shifted back up against him.

The chatter amongst the troops was sometimes noisy, but then it got quiet again. Several times he heard sobs coming from some of the soldiers

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