Thinking About Bravery
I’ve been fortunate to travel to Normandy, France, twice, both times for different events at the Caen Memorial Museum. The first was for a gathering of international cartoonists to discuss freedom of speech, and the other time was for an exhibit that I was connected to about Norman Rockwell. It’s a powerful museum, I recommend going.
The first time I visited, the director took us to see the rows of graves of American service men and women, and then he drove us to the beaches where the D-Day landings happened. Both times, my body reacted viscerally. On the beach, I could feel the men’s fear, horror and bravery. 10,000 died. I looked out into the ocean and tried to imagine their thoughts as they approached the beach, knowing that in all likelihood they would die. When I first saw the rows of graves, I had trouble holding back tears. Reading about D-Day anniversay today, and listening to some of President Biden’s speech, those feelings returned. I can see the beach and feel it again, my stomach in knots.
Who were those men? It’s amazing to me how brave they were, I just don’t know if I can fully understand it. They did it because the believed in freedom, in democracy, and knew that those principles were under attack: they helped save Europe from Hitler’s tyranny.
In his speech today, Biden said, in part,
“As we gather here today, it’s not just to honor those who showed such remarkable bravery that day, June 6, 1944. It’s to listen to the echo of their voices. To hear them. Because they are summoning us. They’re not asking us to scale these cliffs, they’re asking us to stay true to what America stands for.”
Biden made a point of comparing 1944 with 2024, in what is happening in Ukraine and here at home. Democracy is under attack around the globe. In Normandy, Biden met with Ukraine President Zelinsky. I love the video of President Zalinsky hugging a US Veteran, after the veteran tried to kiss Zelinsky’s ring. Here is the emotional exchange:
Veteran to Zelinsky: “You’re the savior of the people!”
Zelinsky to veteran: “No, no! You saved Europe!”
Do we know that now that we are in a similar moment of gravity as we were in 1944?
The drawing at the top of this post is of the Caen Memorial Museum with a flag illustating Norman Rockwell’s famous Four Freedoms painting. Rockwell created the work based on President Roosevelt’s 1944 State of the Union speech in which he spoke of the essential human rights that should be universally protected: Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Want and Freedom from Fear. I did this illustration above for the museum on the occasion of their exhibit about Norman Rockwell in 2019.
Freedom.
The illustration below is one I did for the museum just last month. They currently have on display an exhibition about who the American service men and women were who fought in WWII, what was the US like for them as citizens. The curators asked me to draw something about the culture of the US at that time, 1919-1944. It is called The Dawn Of The American Century.
I hope we can be as clear headed —and brave in a different way— as the men in women who fought and helped in WWII.
Today's narrative and cartoons are outstanding. I don't know if we'll have any history after November, but the one we have now is glorious, despite the pain and gliches.
Cannot imagine the emotion as you walked on the ground that held so many of those who willingly sacrificed their futures to keep the world safe.
What was in it for them? Maybe recognizing the future depended upon them. That their families would live in peace, unmolested by evil.