HERE DEAD LIE WE BECAUSE WE DID NOT CHOOSE,
TO LIVE AND SHARE THE LAND FROM WHICH WE SPRUNG,
LIFE TO BE SURE IS NOTHING MUCH TO LOSE,
BUT YOUNG MEN THINK IT IS, AND WE WERE YOUNG.
The above was engraved on a memorial in the Old Naval Cemetery at Vis in the Adriatic in 1944. A different area from Normandy, but the sentiment is the same.