Jesus at Omaha Beach on D-Day

As the pink waves, reddened with the blood of American troops, pounded the shore behind him a Catholic priest prayed in Latin. He mixed holy water into the wine saying, “By the mystery of this water and wine may we come to share in Christ’s divinity, who humbled himself to share in our humanity”. 

The fierce fighting at Omaha Beach in Normandy, France, had subsided and the coastline was secured. Chaplain John McGovern of Boston, MA, carefully set up a makeshift altar directly on the hood of a military Jeep parked on the sand at Vierville-sur-Mer (Omaha Beach). It was then that the military chaplain consecrated the sands. By celebrating the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in June 1944, he brought Christ's Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity directly to the battlefield.

Shell-shocked, sand-covered soldiers knelt on the beach to receive Holy Communion while surrounded by temporary wooden crosses holding the dog tags of their fallen brothers.

Prayers for the dead and wounded were offered to the Lord amid the distant thunder of mortar shells and cannon fire. The QM 606th Graves Registration Unit started collecting the bodies of dead soldiers. A temporary cemetery was located at the foot of the cliff in Vierville-sur-Mer. The bodies were blessed with holy water giving some consolation to their brothers in arms as they knelt close by. 

When I think of D-Day I think of the opening sequence of Saving Private Ryan (1998) which depicts the brutal June 6, 1944 assault on Omaha Beach. Yet, it’s reassuring to know that even in the midst of hell on earth as portrayed in the film, the Church was there, God was there. 

“Where can I go from your spirit? From your presence, where can I flee? If I ascend to the heavens, you are there; if I lie down in Sheol, there you are” (Psalm 139:7-8). 

On this 82nd anniversary let us pray with grateful hearts for the repose of all souls lost during the D-Day invasions, as well as for the souls of all brave chaplains like Fr. McGovern.