A/N: Thank you everyone for the great feedback on the preview. I hope everyone enjoys this Historical fiction as much as they enjoyed the last one. This story will focus on the ETO or European Theater of Operations. Leaning up from the preparations of D-Day through the end of the War. So please leave reviews and comments, and enjoy the story. Thank you.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Castle series or the characters. This story is based solely on the entertainment of the readers.

Embark on the Great Crusade

Prologue

June 6, 1994

Utah Beach Memorial

It was the fiftieth anniversary of the invasion of Normandy. Veterans for both sides were there to come back and remember the deeds of their youth. For some it was to come to erase the painful memories of losing friends on a day or during the 10 and half months of combat as they fought to liberate the continent from the forces of Nazism. There were hundreds of dignitaries, politicians, movie stars attending all sorts of ceremonies across the peninsula as the main ceremony was taking place at the Omaha Beach American Cemetery. Yet at the other beaches, there were hundreds of people taking in the sites and memorials where the largest amphibious assault had taken place. Veterans with their families, tourist all taking in the sights of the area. Of course back then it looked very much different than it does now.

Yet for one knot of people that numbered close to forty, it was more personal to them. The main group hung back a little bit as they followed the elderly couple that held hands as they walked along the pathway near the beach. A couple minutes later, the man stopped, took a look around at his surroundings and then turned back to the group. "This is it, this is where I came ashore and my fight for Europe started."

A teenage girl took off her headphones and looked around as the man and woman turned back to face the beach. "What's the big deal? It's a beach like we have back home."

Her Father slapped her upside the back of the head. She turned as she rubbed the back of her head and saw the scowl of her father. "Show your great-grandfather more respect." He turned and looked at his grandfather. "Sorry Grandpa Rick."

Richard Castle turned away from the beach and looked back towards his family. "It's ok Aaron."

"Nana Kate, where did you come ashore?" One of the great-grand kids ask.

Kate Beckett Castle turned towards her family with a small smile on her face. "Just a little ways up the coast from here, at a place called Omaha Beach."

"What was it important for all of us to come to this?" The teenage girl whose father smacked her upside the head asked. She felt the eyes of her father burning a hole in the back of her head, but she didn't care. "We all know you met in New York and then again in England."

"Because Sarah, despite the war and sometimes weeks without seeing each other, their love grew stronger." Alexis Castle Pendleton answered the statement. She walked up and clasped her granddaughter's shoulders.

Rick looked at his great-granddaughter who still looked unconvinced. He decided it was time. "Come on."

Kate took her husband's hand again and led the family back towards the parking lot and their vehicles. Within 30 minutes of leaving Utah Beach, Rick and Kate led their family down a line of crosses and the occanisal Star of David until they came to a particular row. A minute later after turning down that row, they stopped in front of a particular cross. Rick placed his hand on it. "Your parents know the whole story, but you grandkids and great-grandkids haven't heard this part."

Sarah's sister saw whose grave they were standing in front of. She turned to her great-grandfather. "It's in the book papa Rick."

"We left some parts out Judy. Some parts that we decided not to tell to the public, his family and especially with you kids." Kate replied as she placed a hand on her husband's shoulders.

"And this is why we come back every year on this day to pay homage to him, despite he died in the Bulge." Rick said taking his hand off the grave and turning again towards his family.

Sarah looked at her great-grandfather. Hearing something new peaked her interest. "What happen?"

Rick and Kate looked past them and out towards the water as they began to remember how it all began.