Europe: Day 19, May 19, Normandy Beaches, France

We got up early and a shuttle picked us up and took us to the company from which we had booked a tour of the Normandy D-Day landing beaches and surrounding area. We joined about 70 other people on a big double decker bus for the three hour ride to Normandy. 

Our first stop was in Caen where we spent time in a museum.  The time spent there was way too short. We literally could have spent all day there. It told of the events leading up to the Second World War by beginning with the First World War. It followed in some detail the history of the war and atrocities committed. It was fascinating, but horrific. Some of the photos and accompanying captions turned my stomach. They pulled no punches. Descriptions, complete with photos, detailed the fighting and unimaginable events that took place.

The thing I found most surprising was the description of the actions of the French government. It portrayed the French leaders as a spineless group who made, at best, token efforts to resist the German advance. It referred to their fighting a "phony war."  The museum is not an American institution.  It is French. I was impressed with their apparent honesty. Credit was given to the French people, especially the resistance movement, for their heroic efforts.  I would have loved to have had more time, but we were on a very tight schedule. 

We watched a film depicting the war from the perspective of both the allies and the Germans. It was a split screen with no narration. Interesting and quite effective. 

We visited Point du Hoc, on the southern end of Omaha Beach which was one of the two beaches invaded by the Americans. The other beach attacked by GIs was Utah.  I am curious to know how the beaches were named. I do not know the significance of the name "Utah" Beach. Utah is the farthest south beach and was too far away for us to visit.  It is in the area where Josh served (Cherbourg) on his mission. We had hoped to visit it, but were disappointed. 



This is a picture of a big crater that was caused by the bombing of the Allied forces.

And then here are a lot of pictures of the bunkers.

We visited the American cemetery at Omaha beach. It contains the graves of 9387 American servicemen, including Theodore Roosevelt, son of President Roosevelt, actually, I think it contains the graves of two of President Roosevelt's sons. Theodore was a high ranking officer and was not supposed to part of the invasion force, but insisted that his men expected him to lead them. I think we were told that his brother was killed someplace else and brought there to be buried with his brother. 

The Utah beach invasion went more smoothly than Omaha. Omaha was a bloodbath for the Americans. Our forces were fortunate to have not been annihilated. When studying the history, it is amazing that they were able to eventually prevail. 
The cemetery, like one we visited at Margraten, The Netherlands, is beautifully landscaped and cared for. The rows and rows of crosses are touching and beautiful. 

We visited (briefly) Gold Beach (stormed by the British) and Juno beach (invaded by the Canadians).

Mike and Linda, Ray and Mary Helen and Candice and I were the only ones who went to Normandy. It was the one thing I wanted to do on this trip. I was not disappointed.