D-Day Tour at Normandy

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**WARNING**

THE PHOTO’S FROM NUMBER 4 TO 53 MAY BE UPSETTING AS THEY ARE WAR TIME PICTURES FROM THE MUSEUM AND MAY BE UPSETTING TO SOME.

This morning we are catching the train to Caen for a tour of some of the D-Day locations in Normandy. Tim woke up not well but gets in the taxi to come along but not far from the hotel he gets out of the cab and walks back to the hotel and stays there for the day.

It’s one of the speedy trains and the trip takes 2 hours. Countryside is really nice, very green. All the houses are picture perfect and I can’t imagine a seeing brick and tile house like we have at home anywhere here.

At Caen there is a lady guide waiting and in our group there is 7 including me. The others are all American, there is a family of four (2 sons, 20 and 17) and a man about 55 and his father about 80. All nice people so it will be a good day. We jump into a big bus with three other groups, once we get to the museum, our first stop, we all split back up into our smaller groups.

CAEN MUSEUM

The museum shows a history not just of the Second World War but goes back to the early 1900’s to show the lead up. It’s mostly filled with photo’s and video footage with only a few artifacts on display and set up in a circular pattern going through the years, starting oldest and finishing after D-Day. Our guide goes with around and explains things along the way and then we are left to our own devices to take pics, so I try and take as many as I can so Tim can see it all when I get back. There is so much to see there is no way I’ll be able to remember when I get back!

It seems the Americans learn a lot more about history at school than we do back home. So I was the dummy in the group who didn’t know the details about a lot of the things the guide talked about.

We had lunch at museum restaurant which was really nice, we had a choice of steak or fish, so I took the fish option. The guide gets her lunch included each day so she does really well, I’m surprised she’s not the size of a house.

GOLD BEACH

Our first stop along the way is Gold Beach, the site of one of the landings on D-Day. First thing you see though are the hundreds of camper-vans. This must be Europe’s version of the Northern Migration that the retired do back home. All that remains of any sign of what happened here is the couple of German Gun Pill Boxes that remain still. One has taken a shot to it and has been left as it landed, complete with a part of the canon laying 5 metres away.

Once the beaches were secured a marina was built to enable ships to bring supplies and also an artificial reef was built further out to reduce the waves. As the invasion was kept secret, the massive floating concrete reef was built in London and kept hidden in the bottom of the Thames until it was time to float them over. Then they built a concrete marina for the ships to moor to that were bringing supplies to rebuild France. The marina had a road that went to the shoreline for trucks to drive on to meet the ships. Parts of these structures are still visible today. It was really a huge engineering feat. It’s hard to believe they could accomplish this all those years ago, yet a brand new house today falls apart within months!

The Dutch Army are here doing some training but while we are there they are roaming tourists just like us.

AMERICAN CEMETARY

Next stop is the American cemetery. This is the cemetery that is shown in lots of movies, including Saving Private Ryan.

The gardens that you walk through to get to the cemetery are immaculate. There is a large memorial building commemorating all those that fell and also those that were never found. In front of that is a large square pond and from there begins the cemetery on either side of the pathway with a chapel at the end and more crosses on the far side of the chapel. White crosses as far as you can see, it’s quite daunting to see so many crosses. Amongst those buried here are around 45 sets of brothers and also a father and son. Not all of the men and women buried here were killed in action, if you served here, you were entitled to be brought back to be buried alongside your mates.

All of the names are engraved in white, but some have a brown tinge to them. These have had sand from Omaha Beach rubbed into the name to make it stand out. The only time this is done though is if somebody (usually a family member) sends money over for a wreath or flowers to be laid at that cross. A staff member will lay the wreath, rub the sand into the name, take a photo and send the photo back to the person who requested the wreath. While I was there I saw two young boys rubbing sand into a cross of their great grandfather. Also, to be the manager of the cemetery you must be an ex serving member of the American Military.

OMAHA BEACH

Next stop is Omaha Beach. This was the landing site from Saving Private Ryan (although that scene was actually filmed in Ireland I think) and also where most lives were lost. There is still a German Gun Pill Box there, complete with gun alongside the beach.

Now days the only noise you hear is the people laughing and playing on the beach, it’s hard to imagine the horrendous conditions that we know happened here. Our guide told me she once had a veteran on her tour that was here for the D-Day operation and the guide felt uncomfortable talking about all the horrific things that happened here while everyone was having such a jolly time on the beach that saw so much bloodshed. The veteran said that it was the best thing he could see happen here as this was the reason so many of his comrades fought and lost their lives, just so that future generations could enjoy the freedom.

There was a caravan selling crepes, so I did the obvious and got yet another sugar crepe. This would have to be THE BEST crepe I have had to date. If I could have fit it in I would have had more - piggy, piggy!

POINT DU HOC

Next and last stop is Pointe Du Hoc. This is up high on the cliffs. There are a lot of German Gun Pill Box towers, some still in good condition, others damaged by gunfire.

There are also a lot of bomb craters and also machine gun dugouts. The craters are huge, standing in them, they are taller than me. There have been lookouts built on top of two of the Pill Boxes which give you a great view up and down the coast and also show just how steep the cliffs are that soldiers had to climb up.

We arrived back to Caen with nearly two hours before our train left, so we all went across the road and had some dinner.

So after a nice relaxing train ride back to Paris, I get back to the station around 10:30 and walk back to the hotel. It takes about 45 minutes and I feel perfectly safe. There are a lot of people still out and about, walking dogs, having dinner etc.

See Tim back at hotel and he has had a relaxing day, he tells me that Spain beat Germany 1-0 so it’s a Spain v Netherlands World Cup Final = Tims team v’s my team - who would have thought!

 

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