R and J in the USA

June 6, 2024

We were very happy and deeply moved to be at the National D-Day Memorial on the 80th anniversary of D-Day. Not just for the chance to honor this incredible day in our nation’s and the world’s history, but also for the crowd of people that would surround us. Everyone gathered there on that day and for that occasion had their own personal sense of meaning and recognition of the day’s significance. So much so that it had been worth their time and energy to get themselves there to that monument on this day to pay their respects. We met a lot of great folks in a short time.

We settled into some open seats near the front of the crowd of thousands gathered before this massive monument to Operation Overlord. Operation Overlord, the code name for the D-Day Invasion, had taken years of preparation and planning at an unimaginable scope and scale. It is nearly as unfathomable to grasp and to believe that human beings actually pulled off executing such an incredible undertaking as it is to wrap one’s mind around the courage it must have taken for each and every very young man who was thrust upon the shores of that otherwise beautiful beach to go head first into such a terrible and heroic fate on such a pivotal and violent day in history.

Perhaps there was a natural camaraderie amidst the thousands gathered that led to a more open chattiness among those sitting next to each other than in other audiences in which we’ve sat. We are always up for having a nice chat with our neighbors before a show or concert. Sometimes they happen. Sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they consist of quick pleasantries. Sometimes deeper conversations. But, here at the National D-Day Memorial on the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the crowd was bubbling with social energy. Each person sitting near us was as eager to hear what brought us here and where we were from as we were to hear of their path to this spot on this day.

As we would eventually find to be the case in many of the first ten states we were yet to visit, we were often surprised to find wild coincidences throughout our travels. This time, in our first state, it was that the couple sitting right behind us was from Fairport, NY. That’s three miles away from our house! We were also sitting next to an engaging young couple that lived not too far up the road in a small Virginia town. All of them were excited to hear about our 50 states tour that we were just kicking off.

Then there was the woman sitting kitty corner behind us – Charlotte Vincent Reynolds. Julie and her got into a conversation and, before long, Julie was nearly giddy to hear some of the stories Charlotte had to tell. 

For those of you who don’t already know, Julie has turned her awe and appreciation for the sacrifices and efforts made during World War II into a musical, a labor of love that had been sitting on the back burner of her mind for a couple of decades and that she just recently decided to focus on and finish writing – which she did! (To learn more about Julie’s trip to finish writing the musical, check out www.ontheroadwithjulie.wordpress.com.) In Julie’s research of that time period, she had read and been impressed by the degree to which the war effort touched every single person in the United States – men, women, adults, teenagers, older folks and even children alike. It is hard to imagine such a thing today – our entire country united behind one single effort where every single man, woman, and child is involved in something together and putting effort and sacrifice in without question, debate or complaint. But it did happen.

Charlotte and Julie got into the usual conversational prologues – the where are you froms and the what brought you heres – and Charlotte asked Julie where she would be going in Virginia. Julie mentioned their next stop would be Smith Lake State Park. 

“Oh. I remember when they built that!” Charlotte exclaimed with a look on her face that suggested a vivid image had surfaced in her mind of a time in her life when children’s concerns were the only ones that consumed her.

“When they built the park?” Julie inquired.

“No. When they built the lake!”

Julie had had no idea it was a man-made lake. Much richer to learn it from a person’s memory than from a blurb on a brochure (though those are great too).

Charlotte continued.

“Yes. I remember. I was maybe 5 years old and we would walk all around that area looking for pieces of scrap metal on the ground. For the war effort.”

In Julie’s research for her musical, she found scenes of children gathering up scrap metal and newspapers and pieces of rubber to contribute to the war effort. She knew from her research that it happened. But it was a new kind of experience to hear about it from someone who lived it. 

That’s right, Julie realized. Charlotte’s “childhood concerns” included more than just the catching frogs and jumping in puddles that Julie remembered from her own. Charlotte’s childhood concerns included the fate of the free world and she, just like everyone else at that time, was wholly invested in doing what she could to help the effort. Charlotte’s true grasp of what and why she was doing it, though probably not fully formed at that time, was more than fully formed these 80 years later and brought Charlotte to be sitting there in an aisle seat. Charlotte’s sweet summer dress, white ribboned hat, and youthful smile had distracted Julie from an accurate perception of time. 80 years, though long ago, was not so long ago that such a youthful looking woman couldn’t have a few memories left of it.

They continued their conversation until the day’s ceremonies began. Julie felt lucky to have a little bit more of a connection to a history for which she is so grateful every day and one more person that she could be grateful to for pitching in on saving the world.

Thank you, Charlotte!