Danial has researched a huge day for us to the Omaha Beach area and we have the beach and museums to see today. After a drive of 3 hours we made it to Omaha Beach and could feel the struggles that took place on D-Day. A memorial called “Les Brave” has been erected in the sand on the beach and consists of three elements: ‘The Wings of Hope’ (to always remember them); ‘Rise, Freedom!’ (help us to remain strong); and ‘The Wings of Fraternity’ (to remind us of our responsibility towards others and ourselves). Here’s a short history lesson to recap on the events courtesy of Wikipedia.
 |
| Les Brave |
 |
| D-Day Landings |
“Omaha Beach is the code name for one of the five sectors of the allied invasion of German occupied France in the Normandy landings on 6th June 1944 during World War II. The beach is located on the coast of Normandy, France, facing the English Channel, and is 8 km long, from east of Sainte-Honorine-des-Petres to west of Vierville-sur-Mer on the right bank of the Douve River estuary. Landings here were necessary in order to link up the British landings to the east at Gold Beach with the Americans landing to the west at Utah Beach. Taking Omaha was to be the responsibility of United States Army troops, with sea transport provided by the U.S. Navy and elements of the Royal Navy. On D-Day, the untested 29
th Infantry Division, joined by nine companies of U.S. Army Rangers redirected from Pointe du Hoc, were to assault the western half of the beach. The initial assault waves, consisting of tanks, infantry, and combat engineer forces, were carefully planned to reduce the coastal defences and allow the larger ships of the follow-up waves to land.
 |
| Poem of Remembrance |
Wikipedia notes that the airforce had “difficulties in navigation caused the majority of landing craft to miss their targets throughout the day. The defences were unexpectedly strong, and inflicted heavy casualties on landing US troops. Under heavy fire, the engineers struggled to clear the beach obstacles; later landings bunched up around the few channels that were cleared. By the end of the day, two small isolated footholds had been won, which were subsequently exploited against weaker defences further inland, thus achieving the original D-Day objectives over the following days.”
The story of Omaha Beach was captured in Steven Spielberg’s movie ‘Saving Private Ryan’ and with not a lot of imagination we could feel the struggles that took place that day. We both felt a sense of allied country pride and gratitude standing on the beach with the water washing over our feet and sand between our toes.
 |
| Omaha Beach |
We walked up and down the shore then continued our self-guided tour to a few war museums in the area and past the Bridge of Freedom.
 |
| Bridge of Freedom |
Museums
The D.Day Omaha Museum bought a deeper real experience of the week’s history. From the boats and artillery outside the Museum, to the radio systems, weapons and passports inside the Museum, we were truly transported to the time when war was in the country
 |
| D.Day Omaha Museum |
We then headed over to the Musee Memorial O’Omaha Beach that had a tank sitting in the parking lot.
 |
| Musee Memorial O'Omaha Beach |
 |
| Victory Flag kept by the Allied Military |
 |
| Model of the D-Day Landings |
Pointe De Hoc Ranger Memorial
Hungry for more history, we drove to Pointe De Hoc Ranger Memorial to see the site where the Americans scaled the cliffs. Here, earth was scarred from the bombs. Despite the bomb covered ground, many of the German shelters were untouched and tourists are allowed to explore the infrastructure.
 |
| Pointe De Hoc |
 |
| German Bunkers |
We saw the exact spot where the army climbed the cliff which was incredibly steep. Unfortunately maintenance cranes were working so we couldn’t actually stand there, but seeing the place bought more depth to the history.
 |
| The cranes were the first spot the men claimed land |
Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial
The 172 acre Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer was the most moving experience of the day. An interactive museum has been created beneath the entrance of the Memorial. The museum displayed allied flags, memorabilia, and many TV’s showing movies of individual stories and facts about their attack.
 |
| Allied Flags in the Museum |
As we slowly walked around the museum, we curiously braced ourselves while being drawn by a female speaker, solemnly stating names of those who lost their lives during the war. The voice lead us to a sacred space: a large round room with high a ceiling filled with space. This room worthily displayed photos and stories of significant military men and women included those awarded with the Medal of Honour. With the solemn voice overhead we slowly walked around the walls to read the mounted plaques which stated their title, date of birth and death, when they arrived to France and their heroic duties. The museum was a remarkable platform to the cemetery and memorial outside by the beach that stretched for acres.
The cemetery was truly a moving experience. Buried in the cemetery are remains of 9,387 heroic American military. Words truly can’t express the feelings when we saw the multitude of white marble crosses standing on the green grass. Each cross stated a name, date of death, infantry number, division number and the state of America they were from. That’s right; Nine thousand, Three hundred and Eighty Seven white crosses. You can’t see them all from the ground.
 |
| Normandy American Cemetery |
|
|
 |
| Theodore Roosevelt Jr's Grave |
 |
| Unknown Soldier |
In the centre of the cemetery blocks, a circular chapel of Vaurion limestone has been created. On the exterior of the lintel of the chapel is inscribed: “These endured all and gave all that justice among nations might prevail and that mankind might enjoy freedom and inherit peace.” Directly above the chapel’s door is engraved a replica of the Congressional Medal of Honour, America’s highest award of valour. The interior of the chapel contains an alter of black and gold Pyrenees Grand Antique marble with a large window behind it, and a beautiful mosaic on the ceiling.
 |
| Chapel |
We made time to see the Memorial which has the names of 1,557 Americans inscribed on the walls of a semicircular garden at the east side. These are men and women who lost their lives in the conflict but could not be located and/or identified.
The Arramanches Beach is still home to abandoned harbour material that trucks and tanks drove over from the boats during the war.
 |
| Harbour remains at Arromanches Beach |
We've been learning basic French to get by and interact with the locals. Before our drive home we stopped into a local shop for some snacks. As Ev entered the store she greeted the shop keeper by saying "Bon jour. Parlez-vous anglais?", to which she replied "Oui". We asked her in English how much the snacks were and for directions. After paying for said items, as we left Evelyn turned to the shopkeeper to bid her farewell and said "Parlez-vous anglais?". Ev didn't hang around long enough to catch the confused expression on her face as Dan held back a laugh. Dan left embarrassed by saying "Merci" and rushed out the door. Dan sat in the car for about 20 seconds not saying anything and then started laughing. Obliviously Ev asked "What?" and Dan said "Do you know that instead of saying 'goodbye' you asked her again if she spoke English?" and burst into laughter again. This continued for many hours.
After 8 hours sightseeing we began our 3 hour drive back to the Paris airport and returned the rental car at 10pm as we didn’t need it any more during our stay in France. The drive home was long, but definitely worth it. We were in bed just after midnight after midnight. What a great day... Parlez-vous anglais?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dan-ev/collections/72157624677997272
No comments:
Post a Comment