| Aug 11, 2007 - D-day Beaches
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 | | show all 9 | | Utah Beach | | shell craters at Utah Beach | | German pillbox at Omaha Beach | | |
| Today we spent the entire day touring the D-day beaches at Normandy. We met a local guide who took us around to the various sites and gave us a history of the Allied invasion. His name is Elwood, a British guy who lives in a small town near Bayeux where many American paratroopers landed just before the invasion. In fact, he lives in a house where one of these paratrooper landed and was saved by a young French girl who lived there at the time. She threw herself between the American and a German officer who tried to shoot him. This guy Elwood was quite a character. He was drssed in U.S. military fatigues and is totally enthralled by anything and everything that has to do with WWII and the Normandy invasion. He was like a walking encyclopedia of facts.
The beaches themselves were interesting, there are some big holes left after the Allied shelling, some abandoned pillboxes and bunkers, and various monuments and museums, but the place that I found most powerful was the American cemetary at Omaha beach. It was very emotional, in fact I was surprised at how it affected me. The cemetary is located on a bluff overlooking the beach, where so many Americans died. There is a big monument with relief maps depicting the battle of Normandy and Europe, some gardens, a museum and over 9,000 graves. Most list the name, rank, home state and date the soldier died, but there are some without names, of soldiers who were never identified. It was beatiful, peaceful and very sad. |
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