"Waiting (June 5th)"
Late into the night of June 5th, 1944, over 13,000 American paratroopers of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions waited patiently to drop behind enemy lines at Normandy and take their part in the Allied forces' D-Day mission, Operation Overlord.
Waiting,
the bell tolls,
the clock ticks,
called are the rolls,
the commander is not sick,
but there is some reason we wait still.
Waiting,
I think back
to times when
each our rucksacks
were heavy, there way back then,
but now we are all battle-ready.
Waiting,
we check gear,
uneasy,
watching time here,
praying we make the DZ
just back of the enemy's beaches.
The Flummoxed 