The American Cemetery was immaculate and beautifully maintained.
The graves of the unidentified soldiers really touched me.
the boys reading the grave markers...
This was an inscription in the chapel in the cemetery.
The cemetary overlooks Omaha Beach.
After the cemetary, we went up to the Pointe du Hoc, the section of land between Omaha Beach and Utah Beach where the cliffs had to be scaled by the US Rangers to take out the heavy German guns.
This sign explains the Rangers' mission. Out of the 225 deployed, only 90 survived the difficult task of scaling the cliffs and taking the 155 mm guns out.
This was a quote from President Ronald Reagan on June 6, 1984.
Remains of the German bunkers.
The land has been left virtually how it was in 1944, huge craters mark the entire Pointe du Hoc from the Naval bombings.
View of the point from the top of one of the bunkers.
Closer view of the point - to the west lies Utah Beach, to the East, Omaha Beach.
After spending the morning viewing the cemetery and the Pointe du Hoc, the boys were ready for a break. We went down to Omaha Beach and let them swim and play on the beach for the afternoon.
Building a retaining wall to hold back the water from a stream running into the ocean.
happy, sand coated boys :)
After an afternoon of sand and sun, we decided to check out the Longues Battery, the location of four 155mm German guns and their bunkers. These threatened Gold and Omaha beaches as they had a range of over 12 miles. They engaged with the ships on June 6th before they were taken over on June 7th by British troops. The bunkers are still entact and three contain the original guns.
Standing on one of the massive bunkers.
Original gun and bunker.
big gun
View across the bunkers and down to the beaches they threatened.
View of the beaches below from the edge of Longues.
We then continued east to see Arromanches, the sight of Winston Churchill's famed Mulberry Harbor. They hauled huge sections of artificial harbor from England and set it up on this beach. This artificial harbor concept allowed the Allies to unload as many as 40 ships simultaneously, with a daily average of 7000 tons of goods into France. This foresight was the advantage that eventually gave the Allies victory. The sections were intended to last 100 days - many large sections can still be seen today.
Section of the Mulberry Harbor.
On Sunday, we saw a little bit of Caen, France and Juno Beach before heading home.
Allied flags at Juno Beach memorial.
Old town in Caen, France.
Chateau in Caen.
Saint-Pierre Church in Caen.
I would say that of all the sights we saw in Normandy, the one that will stay with me forever is the American Cemetery. Arromanches was an amazing engineering feat, Pointe du Hoc was a sight of bravery and courage unmatched. But the cemetary is a place of remembrance and honor. May we never forget the sacrifices made, and may we be thankful that we can live today in peace and freedom.
2 comments:
don't like to sit still do you?! perhaps i should quit reading your blog because it makes me antsy:) No, I won't.
Your photos and sentiments on Normandy were beautiful. It was a tender post.
Josh is out in the bush, way far away. It should be an 8 day trip but really i never know. Thats ok because I have a vacation coming up in 3 weeks and I cannot wait to see something, anything, different. love~ Brin
thank you for this post. touching.
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