mid flight thoughts

In 2013, a work of art was created on a beach in Normandy as a tribute to the roughly 9000 people who lost their lives there on D-Day. Designed by the British sand artists Jamie Wardley and Andy Moss, it was made of 9000 human silhouettes raked into the sand at Arromanches, one for every soldier and civilian who died during the landings, and it was completed on 21 September, the International Day of Peace, with the help of hundreds of volunteers. About 60 volunteers had signed up in advance, far too few for such a huge task, but on the day, people simply started turning up. Locals, tourists and strangers from around the world picked up rakes and stencils and joined in, racing the incoming tide. The artists made one decision that gave the whole work its meaning: there are no flags, no uniforms and no sides. The 9000 figures stand for Allied servicemen, German soldiers and French civilians alike, and in the sand they all look the same. As the artists put it, they would be known only as "The Fallen." D-Day remains the largest seaborne invasion in history: on 6 June 1944, after a day’s delay caused by bad weather, American, British, Canadian and other Allied troops landed on five beaches along the heavily fortified coast of Normandy, codenamed Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword. They stormed ashore under relentless German fire, and Omaha Beach became the deadliest of them all. The exact number of those who died that day will never be known. The artists explained that 9000 is a conservative, rounded figure: around 3000 French civilians, 2000 German soldiers and 4414 Allied servicemen. A few hours after the last silhouette was drawn, the tide rolled in and erased them all, exactly as the artists intended: a reminder of how quickly lives can be swept away, and how easily they can be forgotten. In Jamie Wardley’s words, the work was “a sobering reminder of what happens when peace is not present.”