Matt Feldman Photography
Along a road leading to the Atlantic Ocean, away from the artillery batteries between the landing beaches Omaha and Gold.
It is warm. For the first time since my departure from Baltimore, many hours and 15,994 km of flying prior, I notice the air temperature. It is distinctly un-planelike. And humid. I have arrived in the terminal of Lilongwe’s airport and am staring out the window at the lush green fields reaching to the edge of the parking lot. Taxis and shuttles board their passengers for the half hour trip into the capital city. Rather than heading to the city, I wait for my backpack, naively hoping that the South African Airways staff will somehow discover it in the empty plane and bring it to me. When they finally tell me the bag is still in Johannesburg, I find a taxi and set out for my hotel.
The bridge was critical. As the invasion of Normandy began, seizing and holding the La Fière bridge was one of three central objectives for the USAF. This route was essential for movement inland from Utah Beach and to prevent German reinforcements from moving west. It simply couldn’t be done without securing the bridge.
Climbing southward out of Amsterdam, bound for Paris. The forests and farms of The Netherlands about to disappear below the clouds.
From early winter, an old tree and dilapidated barn on the street where I grew up.