Oscar nominee Sam Elliot paid tribute to WWII soldier Sgt. Ray Lambert by reading his heartbreaking narrative of surviving D-Day on PBS.

“There was complete disarray. People shouting because they couldn’t hear anything; machine gun rounds striking the sea all around you; and the sound of the boats coming in. “You feel alone in a world of a million people because you’re focused on what you have to do,” Sam Elliot read.

“I just kept walking.” “All I could think about was getting to the men who needed me,” Sam added. “You accomplished the task for which you were trained. You would have died if you hadn’t.” Sam ended the narrative with Sgt. Lambert’s thoughts regarding the guys who died on that fateful day.

“Those who have never served in a war should understand what soldiers sacrifice.” The men we abandoned on Omaha Beach never got to live the life they desired. I haven’t gone a day without praying for the guys we lost and their families. I still wake up in the middle of the night thinking about the boys. Every guy who marched into the machine guns and artillery fire on Omaha Beach that day was a hero. What sort of person am I if I don’t tell their stories?”

What a wonderful, poignant story! After leaving the stage, Sam Elliot approached Sgt. Lambert shook his hand. “It’s such an honor to be able to tell your story,” Sam said to the American hero. May we always remember to thank our soldiers and remember the sacrifices they made for each of our liberties.

John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”