A day I won't forget

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The alarm woke us up at 6am. We lost another hour. We are in Le Havre, France. I jumped in the shower as Ken went to get our lattes and croissants. 3,000,000 American troops passed through the Le Havre sea port. We are going to Normandy, the landing beaches for D-day. There are 60 miles of landing beaches and we will only have time to visit some of them. Omaha is the largest-4 miles long. Our guide is Jean Paul, he is funny; French; his English is really good. I'm thankful Jean Paul doesn't feel the need to talk non-stop. The sky is sunny with some clouds, about 47 degrees. We crossed over a beautiful suspension bridge, over the river Seine, to a town named Honfleur. We are driving through the countryside, a little town named Lemieux; with dairy and apple farms. It is warming up and supposed to be about 64 degrees. From the harbor of Le Havre where our ship is docked, we had the choice of going to Paris or Normandy. We have been to Paris before so the choice to see Normandy was an easy one; although I think even if I had never been to Paris, I would have still selected Normandy. I feel a strong obligation to honor our soldiers and pay my respects. We passed the River Dievs. The movie "The Longest Day" included this river and region. We stopped at a petrol station (called "On the Go") for a bathroom break. We got an orange juice and a pastry. Our first stop is Arromanches: an Artificial port was built here before the invasion: "Mulberry Harbour" which was a key success to Allied troops. Pieces were built in England and shipped over here to create the port. They also sunk old ships to help create the harbor. We toured a museum here. Since this was a British port, the museum was mainly a tribute to them. It wasn't an impressive museum. It was not a landing beach, but a supply port. Therefore there are a lot of original buildings. Every year on June 6th there is a celebration in honor of the troops. We walked around the little town and bought some French candy for the girls. The road to Omaha Beach is a windy 2 lane road, passing farm after farm, then passing through small villages...very pretty. We stopped for lunch at a local farm in a little town: Cruelly. The name of the farm is: Ferme de la Ranconniere. Our lunch was wine; white and red, salad with cheese (not just any cheese-local only-so yummy), chicken with fresh cream, potatoes, chocolate cake and coffee. It was so delicious; very rich. The farms in this area were used by the troops to rest during the war. The families would feed them and let them rest. Omaha Beach is where the Normandy American Cemetery is. This is American Territory, run by the American Government. We got off the bus and as you walk towards the beach, you are amazed (and proud) of the pristine landscaping: the walkways, the grass, the trees, the flowers. Nothing is in need of repair. There is a beautiful walkway at the top of the beach. The beach is beautiful. There are steps and a walkway that go all the way down to the beach. We will be going to another part of Omaha Beach where we will get out and walk the beach so we won't do it now. As you continue along you suddenly see the crosses. 10,000 of them. Not all died on D-day, some before and of course some after. There are some crosses that are unknown and say: " Here rests in Honored Glory a comrade in arms known but to God". We are both vey emotional as we try to take in the magnitude of what you are seeing. We walk in silence; most everyone is quiet. It's too much to even explain. I'm just so proud of how beautiful it is here. The grass around each cross is perfectly manicured. Next we went to St Laurent which is still part of Omaha Beach. This is where we walked on the beach. Everything is clean unlike the pictures in my head. Our next stop is Pointe du Hoc. This is the huge cliff that we all are familiar with from movies and pictures. The Germans had fortified the top of the wall and were waiting for our troops. US Rangers, 2nd Battalion, were tasked of taking it. They fought June 6 and 7 and successfully defeated the Germans. We lost 135 Rangers out of 225. You can walk through some of the bunkers. There are huge craters in the landscape from the bombings. It is sunny but very windy. On a different note, we stopped to use the restroom. While I was in a stall, I heard a lady cry out and then Ken saying "sorry"! Yes he opened the door on a little old lady; on his behalf, she hadn't locked the door. We are on the bus back to the ship. Jean-Paul is telling us about his family and then sings us a song in French, sung by the French Resistance troops. I'm tired, physically and emotionally. I am so glad we came here. It meant a lot to us. We got back to the ship, and met Bobbie and Annie for dinner, our last one on the ship. The ship will arrive in South Hampton, England tomorrow morning. We will debark at 9:15 and take a shuttle to London. We will be spending the day and night there and leave on Monday at 5pm to fly home so we have a day and a half to explore London. Bobbie and Annie will be joining us; they leave Monday at 10 am.

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Comments

[Minnie]

I remember those feelings. What an honor to visit there.