MONDAY, AUGUST 25, 2008

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Today we’re off to the beaches – those Normandy beaches made famous by D-Day, the day that changed the course of World War II. On June 6, 1944, the Allied Expeditionary Forces launched Operation Overlord, the largest military maneuver in history - more than 5,000 ships and landing craft, 50,000 vehicles and 11,000 planes set off across the English Channel to push the Nazis out of France.

First stop was the little town of Sainte-Mere-Eglise, actually not a landing site, but a small town right on the major highway that would have been used by the Germans to mount a counter-attack. In the early morning of 6 June 1944 several paratrooper units occupied the town, giving it the claim to be one of the first towns liberated in the invasion.




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One famous incident involved a paratrooper whose parachute caught on the spire of the town church, and could only observe the fighting going on below. He escaped capture by feigning death until the town was taken the next day. The incident was portrayed in the movie “The Longest Day” and in the stained glass window in the church.












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The D-Day landings covered five beaches – Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword. We visited the American landing sites, Utah and Omaha Beaches.

Utah Beach was the first French territory liberated by the Allies.





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It is still a rural area, but the local farms are now littered with concrete battle placements built by the Germans.








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There are gun placements known as tobruks, as well as all sorts of bunkers.





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There is a museum at Utah Beach, with indoor and outdoor war memorabilia.







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We had lunch at Utah Beach at a quirky little place called “Le Theodore Roosevelt Junior,” in honor of the President’s son who died here after the D-Day landings.











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After lunch, we passed a gypsy camp on the side of the road.





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We then headed to Pointe du Hoc, a cliff-top location between Utah Beach and Omaha Beach. Sitting on top of 100-foot tall cliffs, there were six large bunkers and gun placements. The fighting to claim this position was fierce and today, it is a wasteland of craters, broken concrete and twisted metal.












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Omaha Beach, our next stop, was the code name for the second major American landing area. Very little went as planned during the landing at Omaha Beach. The German defenses were unexpectedly strong, and inflicted heavy casualties on landing US troops. By the end of the day, only two small isolated footholds had been won, but these were critical to achieving the original D-Day objectives over the following days.




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Nearby there was a thatched-roof house overlooking the beach. This type of roof was once typical of the area, made with low-cost local vegetation. Today it’s use is limited to the well-to-do who want their homes to have a rustic look.


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The Normandy American Cemetery was our final stop. The Cemetery was first established by the U.S. First Army on June 8, 1944; it was the first American cemetery on European soil in World War II. The cemetery site contains the graves of 9,387 of our military dead, most of whom lost their lives in the D-Day landings and ensuing operations. There are over 1,000 unknown soldiers, and over 1,500 missing.

The memorial consists of a semicircular colonnade with large maps and narratives of the military operations; at the center is the bronze statue, "Spirit of American Youth."



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This is a group of military veterans from our ship.






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We participated in a short, but emotional ceremony honoring those buried here. We then placed flowers on some of the graves – one soldier from South Carolina and another unknown soldier.








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On the way back, just outside Trouville, we slowed for a minute to get a look at a thatched roof restaurant. This one has irises planted along the peak, supposedly to suck water from the thatch so that it will not rot.