Omaha Beach and D-Day

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This morning I drove from seaside village of Cabourg, France, to the Beaches of Normandy and the American Cemetery. I arrived around noon to find the area pretty much deserted. Once again, this is the off season and there are precious view visitors in these parts. The weather was very pleasant as it was around 50' and a calm breeze blew off the ocean. The water was actually much warmer than I expected. Had I brought a swim suit.....well, maybe not. Walking down to the beach and seeing all the German strongholds, pillboxes, and gun turrets gives one the feeling that this was no ordinary undertaking by the American, the Canadian, and the English forces. This had to be a pure hell for these guys. The beach is wide open to any fire. Once you get lucky enough to make it to the beach, you will need to climb a very steep hill to get to the top of the summit. This hill is pocked with German firepower. How anyone made it to the top is beyond me. Although I get the feeling that the plan was to let the Germans run out of ammunition. What a waste of so many human lives. When you walk through the the German pillboxes, you realize they really only had so much ammunition. Although, if you were lucky enough to last through that, you had more danger down the road at Caen and Bayeux.
After touring the beach, I went to the Cemetery at the top of a rather steep climb. The same climb all those guys made under intense fire on June 6th, 1944. The Cemetery is actually much smaller than I had anticipated. The famlies of the soldiers kiiled in the immediate area were given a choice as to bring them home or inter them at the beach. About one-sixth decided to place their loved one in the soil at Normandy. I also went to the small museum and viewed an excellent documentary which covered the short lives of five men who died in and around the area. It used letters they wrote home to tell their stories. It was a very nice tribute. There are also many other artifacts in the museum which dealt with the American landing and subsequent activity through France. I hope you enjoy the photos.

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