Brody's Notes & Scribbles... Remembering D-Day & Those Whose Served In Silence

The Canadian Military Cemetery at Bény - Riviers  Normandy
Photo By The British War Monuments Commission

By Brody Levesque (Washington DC) June 6 | Sixty-six years ago today my father & his fellow Canadian Troops, serving alongside their counterparts from the American & British armies, stormed ashore on the beaches of Normandy, France. It was a bloody day and thousands lost their lives and are now lying quietly buried in military cemeteries erected above those same beaches. Thus, this day has always held a personal connection for me.

I have visited Normandy over the years and have attended several of the impressive  annual ceremonies honouring not only their memory but the sheer will power displayed by them that ultimately ended the global mayhem and warfare.  Yet, I have to wonder, as a Gay Man, what it was like for those of the soldiers, sailors, and marines for whom, paraphrasing Brit playwright & author Oscar Wilde, in their hearts possessed the love that dared not speak its name. Especially those who lost their loves in the battle for the Norman coastline and whose surviving lovers & partners were possibly sitting quietly amongst the survivors in those ceremonies I attended.

Today, as LGBT Pride celebrations commence during this month designated as Pride month in several western nations, I give thanks and honour those brave Gay men who lost their lives and loves on the beaches and fields of Normandy so that I, and my fellow Gay & Lesbian, Bi & Transgendered folk, have the freedom to celebrate being LGBT. There is no doubt that had the fascists won, there never would have been anything remotely resembling Pride and oh yes... wearing Pink Triangles? Yeah..... whole different scenario eh?