Collecting sand for D-Day

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-18164359

I suppose to the uninitiated, this sounds kind of silly, but it's incredibly important work, and done under unbelievably dangerous circumstances.  A dear friend of my family's was involved in similar operations in the Pacific theater, and talked of being able to see the glow from the cigarettes of the Japanese sentries on the beach....