Visiting the Caen-Normandie Memorial

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Bill and I agreed that we always thought of D-Day, 6th of June as being a defining and definite date (which it was, but)...but we learned at this stunning and well presented museum that it was only the beginning of the invasion that went on for another six months or so. We saw the maps and photos of the invasion of Normandy, a key episode in the liberation of Europe. Such casualties.

We could only do this part in one afternoon. The tickets are good for 24 hours.

The photos of the destruction. I won’t list them. (But, they made me think about poor Syria...we visited Damascus and Aleppo about 20 years ago, and now whenever we see what has happened there...I feel so sad...Is there any way that it will be able to recover?)

The Marshall Plan worked so well...Europe remained in the free market, and Stalin dominated the East...hard to look at the contrasts and very glad that I lived in the West and the USA.

I kept looking for a mention of the Fulbright-Hays Scholarship program, from which I benefited (Got me to India in 1965-66)...Senator Fulbright proposed to use funds from the sale of excess government property and aid to war torn countries and to allow countries to repay debt by funding an international education program. (Check Wikipedia: Fulbright Program for more details.) But, I didn’t find a single mention!

We returned the next day to learn more about the Cold War, with radio excerpts, newspaper clippings, etc. We saw several pieces of the Berlin Wall on display.

We had driven past the cemeteries, and because of poor planning, we didn’t visit. Again, for another trip.

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