For Memorial Day: Normandy France, A Visit and a Tribute

Memorial day is a strange holiday, on one hand, people have the day off and go on nice weekend getaways, have picnics and spend time with family and friends...on the other hand it is a day to remember those brave men and women who have fought for our country in hope of achieving peace and freedom.....many survive those battles, many do not.

It is the holiday that always makes me think about the days my husband and I spent exploring the coast and the lovely towns of Normandy in the northern reaches of France. Our most memorable moments were when we visited the American Cemetery at Colle-Saint Laurent. This is where 10,000 graves are located, the final resting places of all those noble soldiers, many of them just young men, barely out of their teens, who stormed those beaches, with fear and bravery in their hearts and minds, on that most infamous day, D-Day, June 6^th 1944.

A bit of History

Early in the morning, on that first night, 3 airborne divisions, descended in the quiet of the night and began parachuting men over the defenses of the Germans, in Ranville and Sainte Mere Eglise, surprising the Germans and creating a hole in their defense, soon the British Paratroopers captured an important bridge at Benouville, leaving the Germans without access to any more backup supplies or men.

Bombings followed from the air and soldiers captured one of the most important German positions, Point De Hoc...at the same time 130,000 men and 20,000 vehicles were preparing to land on the five beaches: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword...These troops were allies from Great Britain, France, Canada and of course American...Hundreds of thousands more would follow over the next few weeks.

Without a port large enough to unload the heavy equipment that was necessary by the allies, artificial ports, which had been made in Great Britain, were brought across the English Channel, one to Saint Laurent, the other at Arromanches...

This invasion was called Overlord, and those bridges helped bring the men onshore with fewer losses than were anticipated, even though there were over 10,000 men killed or wounded that first day, a huge part of those losses in the most bloody battle taking place at Omaha Beach
It is here, at these sites where our brave soldiers landed and fought so bravely, that will make your trip to Normandy the most memorable ever. My heart was touched, with the magnitude of what was accomplished during those days and what makes everything so real and poignant is the opportunity to see the places where it all happened.

With a map in hand we decided to explore some of those sites and what an experience that was. We drove the coast rode and came to Arromanches, where the remains of that artificial harbor still appear in the water, an example of the ingenuity of the armed forces, to have built such a thing in preparation of what was to come...There is a small museum nearby demonstrating how it all came together and what the landings looked like.

Driving a bit further was Pointe du Hoc, the jagged lime cliffs, where a group of American rangers scaled those cliffs using hooks to get to the top in order to attack the Germans in their pillboxes...a small cross honors those brave soldiers.

The next eerie place we found to explore was on the beach head of Longues sur Mer. We just stumbled upon this place since it was listed in our guide book for some reason or another....It was here that we found German bunkers and pillboxes, untouched or changed since the war...With a morbid fascination we climbed down a few and as we looked out through the holes in the wall and the gun sights, we could see what the Germans saw as the allied forces approached and made there way onshore only to be shot down...It was really very unnerving to experience and see this and I was glad to leave, this place with extreme negative vibes.

Our next stop was Ste-Mere-Eglise where another small museum awaits, Musee des Troupes Aeroportees, this museum was built to honor those American airborne troops who parachuted out of their planes in the middle of the night, many landing safely others, not so lucky. Another strange sight was a model figure of a parachutist hanging from a rooftop steeple where apparently his lines got caught...

But the sight that left us both feeling the most moved and touched was the American Cemetery, at Colleville-Saint-Laurent just above Omaha Beach, the beach where the most blood was spilled during those most eventful days.

As far as you can see are the rows upon rows of marble white Crosses and Stars of David's gleaming in the light of day above the gravesites of the 9,386 American military men who gave their lives for freedom on foreign soil...This land was given to the United States by the French government in tribute and thankfulness to those brave souls to honor their heroism.. it is as touching a sight as I have ever seen...my tears fell, mingling with the light rain that started to fall along with the mist coming off the sea in the near distance.

I couldn't help but think of those dead along with the survivors, the men who came home, some whole, many not...how brave they were, and at the same time, how frightened they must have been, but they persevered and won the battles...That generation is slowly dying off now, the "Greatest Generation", as Tom Brokaw calls them, but the memories will remain, and we must remember them all on this holiday, Memorial Day, which commemorates all who fought in that was as well as all the other wars before and after.

Traveling to Normandy has so much to offer, beautiful touristy seaport towns, long sandy beaches more monuments to the invasion, Le Memorial de Caen, a museum not to be missed, and funky port towns such as Honfleur, just oozing with atmosphere and charm, a spot the impressionists loved to practice their crafts.

I can not recommend a visit to Normandy highly enough, so close to Paris you could see some of it in just a few hours, but the best way would be to spend a night or two in one of the charming towns, savoring the wonderful French food and leisurely exploring all there is to see and do. The older folks that still live there and were there during the war love American visitors, we were told more than once how they still appreciate what America did for them...None of that anti-American stuff I've read about recently...my trip to Normandy will remain in my heart and mind, for as long as I live.