June 6th marked the 70th anniversary of the Allied landing on the beaches of Normandy. I got a message early in the morning from good friend and retired Marine Bob Finneran, reminding me what day it was. But, I didn’t need reminding. I, like many people of a certain age, tuned into the live broadcast of the international ceremony marking this occasion from Ouistreham beach—code named Sword beach—in Normandy. I watched the heads of state of the world’s most prominent countries as they arrived and were escorted along the red carpet to exchange greetings with President Hollande and shake hands with a small group of D-Day veterans. These veterans, the real stars of this event, are part of a dwindling brotherhood who knew these beaches when the waters were red and the sand was strewn with bodies of fellow soldiers. I wondered how much, if at all, time had erased those scenes from their memories or whether the neural pathways of those horrific events were just too deeply carved into their psyches—would the horrors they witnessed accompany each man to his grave? Landing beaches of Normandy. Photo by W.T. Manfull I listened to the well-crafted speeches reminding me that no [...]