Omaha, Pap, and an ambulance from heaven

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Hey everyone. We have spent the past three days in the Normandy region, visiting many of the WW2 sites. We took a guided tour of Omaha Beach, the main American invasion point. It was definitely a little eerie standing in the sand where so many died. The important part of our visit here was visiting the town of St. Mere Eglise, the first town in Europe to be liberated during the first few hours of June 6, 1944. My grandfather, John Ryan or Pap to us, was an 82nd Airborne Pathfinder, one of the first men to drop out of the sky and into the town. There is a great Airborne museum there now, so we decided to bike there, about 15 km each way. We went to the tourist office to doublecheck the route and found out that bikes arent allowed on the main road; we must take the back roads, making the trip about 20 km each way or even more of a stretch for two non bikers. But we werent about to give up after making it this close. So we put on our warm clothes and headed out. The temp was about 50 degrees, very cold for us and it was windy. And the back roads through Normandy are anything but flat. So we struggle to make it to St. Mere Eglise. Along the way, we both said little prayers to Pap, asking him to keep away those dark rain clouds, which he did, and asking him to protect us from passing cars, which he also did. We successfully made it to St. Mere Eglise in about 2.5 hrs, enjoyed the museum and found Paps picture there with the 82nd 505 group. However our legs and butts did not want to make the return trip. The bus had already left and the train workers were on strike, leaving us only one option_a taxi. The tourist office pointed us to a taxi service, which was a personal residence. The nice French gentleman attempted in several ways to stuff our bikes into his Mercedes taxi, a very nice one, but couldnt fit them. Just when it looked like we were going to have no choice but to pedal home, we noticed an ambulance sitting in the back of the drive. Apparrently, he also drives the ambulance because after an awkward suggestion from me, and a funny grin from all of us, he took out the stretcher, loaded in the bikes and off we went! We like to think that Pap was happy we biked so hard to see that place and took care of us once again.

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Comments

[Dad Ryan]

Great Story
That is one of the best stories from your trip. I am so glad you made it to Normandy and took the time to see these places. Pap would be so proud of you guys and I'm sure he would tell you some stories about his brief visit there. I miss you guys. Be safe. Love, DAD

[eddie]

wow
man, that sounds interesting. I can't believe pap's picture is there. Did you get a snapshot of that?

[Cuz Erin]

That sounds so cool guys! I love coming to your site to read all of the recent posts. I bet that was neat to see Paps picture also. He would have had a lot to say about that! Take care! Erin