Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Omaha - a Veteran's View

The places were - "Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword",
With great regard Omaha was named "Operation Overlord",

US boats were carrying Veterans and Amateurs,

Sailing towards the shores of Omaha,

Grim was the mood among us,

Not a word exchanged, more or less,

Except, those noisy waves portrayed a deadly message,

We were heading for a narrow bloody passage,

Some were muttering prayers of lord,

Some were pondering how to hit hard,

Nearer we came to the shores of Omaha,

We were clueless of what’s going to happen,

Gazing at doors of the boat to open,

At that moment ears were our eyes,

Clearly perceiving the true picture of outside,

Boom! Went off a mortar to our left,

Turning some iron-heartened men into ashes,

Merciless MG42s unleashed scenes of gore,

Clamor of soldiers echoed all over the shore,

Bullets zip past our boat and knocked at the door,

Hungry to perforate some of our bodies,

While gritting the teeth, we took a deep breath,

The doors were opened to face the fascist’s wrath,

Awe struck and frozen our hearts,

As we saw the real portrait of death,

Spreading its wings and swarming at us,

With hunger to conquer the lives of many,

Between enemy gun’s gluttony,

And bombs pounding in monotony,

We hardly heard what our Captains were saying,

But we knew they were successively screaming - "Take Cover, Take Cover!",

By that time for many of our men, it was all over,

Enemies fought with unimaginable fierce,

Killing our soldiers with horrible pierce,

Even before they figure out what hit them,

Holding their last breath,

To remember their loved ones,

Down they went with their eyes wide open,

With blood gushed from their perforated bodies,

Their soul marched for heaven,

Stamped - "Brave Men who sacrificed their lives for Motherland",

Still some of us luckily remained untouched by anything,

As the day passed hour by hour,

We slowly advanced from cover to cover,

Bloody fascists refused to surrender,

We waited patiently for them to make a blunder,

Close we went and had a fine measure of our enemies,

Came the defying moment to justify the deaths of many,

We pushed our limits and engaged face to face,

Silenced the fascist race and their power of disgrace,

"An Ambush or Massacre" – whatever you may call,

At end of the day, only few men stood firm and tall,

Turned around and gazed at the shores,

It was a deep blue sea with waves in red,

I saw them kissing the shores of Omaha beach,

Washed away the bodies of many within their reach,

As the scene shook my heart,

With sullen silence I closed my eyes,

I felt an intolerable grief lurking in large,

Just above my Adam’s apple,

I almost let it off as "Tears of Condolence",

But sealed it with my heartfelt salute for my men of mettle,

As my tears would hardly match the blood and sacrifice,

They shed in the battle.

- I like War movies.
- Wrote this poem by stepping into the shoes of a veteran, after watching "Saving Private Ryan". My all time favorite war movie.
- I recommend this movie to any action movie enthusiast.
- Checkout imdb - Saving Private Ryan
- Checkout Wikipedia - Omaha Beach

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