The cab stopped in front of a huge silver gate. Ryan got out first and took her hand as she stepped out too. It was eerily quiet.
"I'm very sorry about Reiben. He was a good guy." Ryan said as they began to walk towards the cemetery.
"Yes, he was. I regret not contacting him in all these years. Those guys, they helped me through so much and I repaid them by ignoring them." She said solemnly.
"Everyone treats their sadness differently. Don't feel bad, I'm positive Reiben understood. We all went through the same things Desiree."
"Yeah." She said agreeing, but knowing that even though they had definitely gone through similar experiences during the war, none of them had been in the same situation as her.
She looked up as they went through the entrance and almost lost her balance. The cemetery was more than full of white crosses sticking out of the ground. Each one was a headstone. Her heart sank as she thought of how she probably had met some of the people buried here. She had probably been through basic with some. She wondered if that boy Johnson she had met before the beach was buried there. She wondered if her friends were buried here.
"Seeing this never gets easy." Ryan said, stopping to look across the field.
He had been there a few years before with his family so it wasn't such a shock to him this time as it was to her. They could see where the funeral was going to be held and started off that way. Reiben wasn't going to be buried in the cemetery since he hadn't died in Normandy, but the service was being held there by request of his family in a small clearing. As they got closer, they noticed other people heading towards the same clearing where white chairs were gathered in front of an alter on top of which was a black casket. She felt a sting in her heart when she saw it. She noticed Upham already standing in the second row. He had his eyes closed, probably remembering how shitty of a time he had endured with Reiben in Charlie company. She walked over and stood next to him with Ryan close behind.
"I'm guessing you remember the name 'James Francis Ryan'?" She asked him.
He opened his eyes and turned, seeing Ryan next to her.
"It's been a long time Tim. How've you been?" Ryan said.
"Same old, same old." Upham said.
Desiree closed her eyes as the two talked for a second and saw in her mind a young Timothy Upham and James Ryan chatting in Ramelle. She opened them again as all talking ceased. She watched as a pastor walked over to the alter and began the funeral.