Common Valour

          It was the fourth of June 2009 and 82 year-old Christopher Garrison was one of roughly 300 survivors of the June 6th invasion of Normandy (D-day) and as one of the last survivors he had been invited to take part in the ceremony to commemorate the 65th Anniversary of the Normandy Invasion at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Colleville-Sur-Mer. So Christopher boarded a plane from San Francisco bound for Cherbourg. Upon arriving in Cherbourg, he hailed a cab, got in and was driven to his hotel in Colleville-Sur-Mer. When he arrived at his hotel Christopher paid the cab driver, and then checked into the hotel, and got his room key. He then went to his room and retired for the night.

             The next morning Christopher awoke early and showered. After he showered, he pulled out the Army uniform that he had not worn in 65 years; he put it on and was surprised to find that it still fit after all these years. After attaching the prosthesis to his right leg Christopher reached into his bag and removed a small worn, wooden box which contained his service medals; a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart. He removed them from the box and carefully pinned them onto his jacket in their respective places below his campaign ribbons. Christopher grabbed his cane and left the hotel; he hailed a cab and had the driver take him to the NACM (Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial). He arrived a couple of hours before the ceremony was due to start, so he walked down one of the trails that led down to Omaha Beach and walked along the beach where he and so many others had fought and died six decades before.

             As he began walking along he was suddenly overwhelmed by a sea of memories, some of them weren't so bad but others were things that he had been trying to forget for 60 years. Just as he was about to head back up to the cemetery, Christopher noticed something glint in the sand out of the corner of his eye. He went over to where he saw the glint; he knelt down and picked up the item in question, went down to the waterline, washed them off and then looked down into his hand. He looked at the chain in his hand and realized that was holding a set of World War II era dog tags and an old, tarnished silver cross. "I know that cross" Christopher thought to himself and sure enough he turned over the tags and saw the information on them "MALONE ANDREW S." "19811219 T42 44 A C" he couldn't believe what he was holding.

                Tears began to stream down Christopher's face as he clasped his hand around the dog tags and cross that he knew all too well, and he was taken back in time, back to the day when he had first been convinced to join the US Army by his best friend. The day was April 18th, 1944. He remembered it like it was yesterday. It was beautiful spring day in Sonoma, California.

                  It was shortly after his 17th Birthday and a mere 5 months after since he had graduated from high school. Christopher was sitting on the front porch of his parent's house on Napa Road, when he looked up and he saw Andrew Malone his best friend (they had known each other since primary school and Andrew was always there for Christopher and vice versa) Andrew came up and sat next to Christopher and the two boys began talking. Before long the subject of the war in Europe came up (you might say that it was inevitable).

                        Andrew (who had just turned 18) asked Christopher if he was going to enlist "All the guys our age are joining up we should too." Christopher replied "I don't need to remind you that I am too young to enlist being 17, besides I am a coward, I would never be able to fight the Germans. I would too afraid." "Christopher" Andrew replied "You are the farthest thing from a coward; you are one of the bravest men that I know" "Besides" he continued "if you get one of your parents to sign your papers will be able to enlist". So with that the boys decided to walk into town and go to the recruiting station and join the Army. Andrew signed his papers and enlisted on the spot but Christopher wasn't sure what to do, because his father Albert (or Bud as he was known at work) was against the war even though he worked aiding the war effort at the Mare Island Naval Shipyards. So there wasn't any way that Christopher could bring the enlistment papers and hope to get them signed, so where it asked for date of birth on the papers he wrote April 14th, 1926 (making himself appear to be 18). He didn't know whether or not the recruitment officer would ask for proof that he really was 18, thankfully he didn't. So with that Andrew Malone and Christopher Garrison became soldiers in the United States Army.