Pointe du Hoc is a 110 foot cliff overlooking the English Channel, a highpoint between the landing zones of Utah and Omaha Beach. While most of us know about the D-Day landing at Omaha Beach thanks to the movie Saving Private Ryan, this would be the first time I had heard the story about the brave Army Rangers who had to scale these walls to overtake the German forces.

On the westernmost parts of the Normandy coastline lies Utah Beach. The allies landed there on June 6th 1944 at 0630 hour. Their objective was to secure a beachhead on the Cotentin Peninsula, the location of important port facilities at Cherbourg 36 miles away. Cherbourg would allow the allies long term succession if they were able to overtake the German occupied area.

Our journey begins in Sainte-Mère-Eglise, where on the night of Monday June 5th, 1944, 30 paratroopers would make their landing as Operation Overlord would commence.

It's January the 13th, 2023, and for the past week or so my emotions have overtaken me. Like an avalanche cascading down the side of a mountain, grief, fear, and questions have come crashing down. It's a slide that swallows me up from time to time, but one in which I've learned to ride. 

Here you have a photograph that sums up my very long drive through the Peace Garden State of North Dakota. Oh yeah, that doing uncomfortable things, turns out it’s true after-all.

When people ask me where I'm from, I normally say the Jersey shore. The reaction I get is, "you don't look like the Jersey Shore!" Newsflash, those people don't represent where I originally come from.