Madame Alanche Chapelle and her daughter Helene Chapelle kneeling in the war cemetery behind the invasion beaches in France on June 6, 1945, to pray for the Allied soldiers who died on the invasion beaches. One year after the final invasion that turned the course of World War II.
Photograph by Peter Carroll for the Associated Press (1945)
PRAYER OF A SOLDIER
My shoulders ache beneath my pack;
(Lie easier, Cross, upon His back.)
I march with feet that burn and smart
(Tread, Holy Feet, upon my heart.)
Men shout at me that may not speak;
(They scourged Thy back and smote Thy cheek.)
I may not lift a hand to clear
My eyes of salty drops that sear.
(Then shall my guilty soul forget
Thy agony of Bloody Sweat?)
Lord, Thou didst suffer more for me
Than all the hosts of land and sea.
So let me render back again
This millionth of Thy gift. Amen.
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And today we celebrate...
