Chapter 17: No Walk in the Park

Twelve miles behind Captain Calvin Taylor and his small band of fugitives, was the French coast, also known as Normandy. Looking out across the water, one might imagine they could see jolly old England.

It was only one hundred miles across the channel. Over there, soldiers and sailors were beginning to load onto ships in the naval dockyards of Gosport, Stokes Bay, and many others.

Some of those men were brash and loud and full of spit and vinegar. Others were quiet and introspective. Whether they would admit it or not, all of them were worried at the very least and many were downright terrified. The Germans had spent years building their fortifications along the beaches. They had the high ground. They possessed seasoned soldiers.

One hundred seventy-five thousand men were preparing to ride those choppy waters. The invasion would come at sunrise. For many of those men, that would be the last sunrise they would ever see.