As the Rooster Crows

Today June 6 marks the 77th anniversary of D-Day. D-day was a planned liberation of Europe from Nazi Germany. It lasted from June to August 1944 and included over 156,000 British, Canadian, and U.S. soldiers. This was the largest amphibious mission in history and took years of planning from Allied leaders Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. This is the event kids look forward to learning about in school. Recently my oldest son learned about WW2 and he was excited to come home and tell me about it. Recently I discovered information that connects my family to that historical event that created a turning point in the war.

I had two family members that stormed the beaches of Normandy, my grandfather, Robert Lamar Lord and my grandmothers cousin, Berends E. Lord. I knew my grandfather was in the war, but I did not know he was involved with D-day. He survived the war and made it home and was an amazing grandfather to me. Private Berends did not have the same fate. He survived D-Day, which I do not have enough information to tell if he stormed the beaches on June 6th or not, but I feel like just surviving that attack is pretty remarkable. We have all seen the video of the amphibious tanks opening the door and soldiers being welcomed by gunfire. Berend made it to November 8, 1944 and died by the Seine River in France.

The story goes that on the day he died, the sky turned dark and a rooster crowed. When that happen, his family knew he was killed in action.

Top Picture: Robert Lamar Lord

Bottom: Aubrey Brown at Berend's memorial in France