During the “mostly peaceful” riots which followed the death in police custody of George Floyd, we heard yet another plaintive cry from the Black Lives Matter crowd.  It was “Say Her Name”!  The “Her” they were referring to was Breonna Taylor, a black female medical worker who was shot to death by Louisville, KY police during what was described as a botched drug raid on her apartment in March of last year.

The “Say Her Name” movement actually started much earlier, in 2014.  It was to protest that more black women, like black men, are shot by police than other ethnic groups, especially whites.  The fact that they, sometimes in concert with male partners, are involved in a much higher portion of criminal activity given their numbers in the general population was of course ignored.   As in the case of Floyds death, the police were systemically racist.  End of message.  Let the riots and looting begin.

The picture above is of a grave marker in the American Cemetery at Colleville sur Mer on the bluff above Omaha Beach in Normandy.  Written on the cross is this simple phrase:

“Here rests in honored glory a comrade in arms. Known only to God”

He was, because of the extent of his injuries, and the limitations of forensic science during that era, an “Unknown Soldier”, one of many who were simply listed on the rolls as “Missing In Action”. 

I took this photograph in the spring of 2000, when my wife and I visited the cemetery during our visit to the Normandy battlefield.  It was one of the most somber and moving experiences of our lives.

Sixteen months later the entire world changed forever with the attacks on September 11, 2001.  Shortly thereafter, our military began the effort to find those who had perpetrated the atrocities when elements of our Special Forces entered Afghanistan in search of the Al-Qaeda terrorists lead by Osama bin Laden. Continue reading Say Their Names! →