At Normandy, the real American heroes live on

NORMANDY, France

For a reporter, the definition of the word “clutch” has changed forever.

It used to be the Giants’ Bobby Thomson’s home run off the Dodgers’ Ralph Branca in the 1951 National League playoffs.

Or, Michael Jordan’s playing through severe illness to will the Chicago Bulls to an NBA championship over the Utah Jazz.

Or, Joe Montana leading the 49ers on a last-minute drive to win the Super Bowl over the Cincinnati Bengals.

But, not anymore.

Clutch is standing on the cliff at Pointe Du Hoc, looking down and wondering how Army Rangers kept throwing ropes to the top, and then climbing them as German soldiers shot down at them.

Peering down from the cliff at the beach below, made June 6, 1944, seem like yesterday.

That day, 225 Rangers made the attempt. Only 90 ended the day without being killed or wounded.

At nearby Omaha Beach, our guide brought us to the exact spot where the first hole in the German beach defenses here were punched on D-Day.

Scores of young American heroes were killed on that spot.

The American flag flapped in the breeze, proudly with the French flag. That flag, the one with all of those stars and those magnificent stripes, never looked better.

Yards from the beach, Robin and I searched for one of us, a Louisianian.

We walked until we found the grave of Private Ray Honeycutt, 101st Airborne.

Private Honeycutt, according to his tombstone, was killed in action June 11, 1944.

Standing above his grave, we never felt so small.

On the train ride back to Paris, as we rolled through the stunningly beautiful countryside, I wondered about all the things this great man missed.

For a lifetime, he wasn’t able to hold the hand of his best girl.

He didn’t have the incredible honor of walking his daughter down the aisle at her wedding.

He never had the chance to squeeze his children and grandchildren tight and tell them, over and over, how much he loved them.

Ray Honeycutt is now a part of me. Always.

Normandy isn’t just where American tourists go to visit the scenes of an epic battle.

Pictures of American heroes line the path to the beaches.

You stare at their faces.

They stare back at you.

In Normandy, the soldiers of the United States of America are icons.

As the years go by, and the last of our D-Day veterans pass on, you wonder if their remarkable heroism will fade into some little corner of history.

Until you come here.

Here, in northern France, on the coast of the English Channel, their greatness lives.

Ed Daniels is sports director of ABC26 WGNO. He can be reached at [email protected].