Normandy

We had all seen the movies…and knew the history…but nothing would quite compare to seeing Normandy in person.

It was really special to experience the area completely by ourselves.  Places that would normally be bursting with tour busses and visitors were silent. Parking lots were empty and everything was perfectly still and covered in a few inches of snow. It was surreal and humbling.

We first started at a German cemetery (which used to be German/American) It was blended originally because as we moved in from the beaches taking land, the men not only had to bury our own soldiers, but also the soldiers we were defeating. A few years later, as is American custom, people could choose to have their loved one moved home, or eventually into the American cemetery which sits above Omaha Beach.

We chose to visit in the winter which was more by chance than anything, but proved to be the best decision.  The D-Day beaches get over 1 million visitors per year. During peak season the towns are bustling and tours are booked solid. Guess who goes in January.  No one.

From there we continued to Point Du Hoc, where the Rangers scaled a massive beach cliff 5 miles west of Omaha Beach and a pivitol point of the invasion. The area looked like a moonscape.  Craters the size of small houses still cover the ground where our airplanes dropped bombs, bunkers are in tact, and chunks of concrete still lay scattered about where bunkers that were blown up came to rest.  It was like nothing was touched.  You were able to stand about 10 feet above the exact spot where the rangers acended only to be shot one right after the other until they finally broke loose with enough men to slowly take over the German bunker.

We drove down to Omaha beach which to some degree is also still untouched. When the war began it was a popular beach destination town for Parisians.  There were expensive ocean front homes and hotels (of course the Germans leveled most of this, so when D-Day occurred there were no homes on the beach anymore) but there was a road and a sea wall before the massive hill that the Americans had to climb. These are still there today.  It felt small to be on that beach. And exposed.
Again, the bravery of the men that day was imprinted on my mind.

The American Cemetery was the last stop.  It is built on a bluff overlooking the section of Omaha Beach that was given to America by the French. The opening scene of Saving Private Ryan is filmed there with the rolling green lawn covered in small crosses. Except we got to see it covered in snow….cold and quiet and white.  With no one else on the grounds, we walked the rows and rows of crosses.