La bataille de Normandie

"Comrade in arms whose resting place is known only to God."- Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial

Sorry that I have been radio silent for a couple of days but a lot has happened and I have just been lazy as well. I will kick myself in the butt for not updating no that day but hey it's too late. So this blog post will be all about my trip to the Normandy Coast on June 7, 2013. 

The day started at five in the morning and catching the metro at 5:45 to get to our bus stop at 6:30. The morning was long and confusing but eventually we (Ben, Haskel, Kyle, Sarah and I) got on the bus that would take us out to the city of Caen in the Normandy Department. The French countryside is as quaint and beautiful as you picture it. The rolling hill of farmland, the stone houses and mid-evil towns that are like you blink and you missed it. I would have loved the chance to stroll in any of the towns we passed through especially Caen since the place looked really classy. 

Our first stop was at the Caen Museum that had the history of not only D-Day (June 6, 1944) but of the whole Second World War along with artifacts on the First World War and smattering on other major war/battle events. The place was huge and very over whelming. I wish we would have gotten to spend more time there but we were on a tight schedule and had to have lunch at noon. We ate lunch at the museum it was sorta a buffet style but they only gave us a main course which I really enjoyed even though I didn't know what it was until after I ate it. Turns out it was stuffed chicken (with what? who knows!) and a potato cake thingy on the bottom. I tried brie cheese there for the first time and I have to say that I didn't really have a taste to me. 

After the museum the tour took us to Omaha Beach at Pointe du Hoc where Rangers scaled the sheer cliffs at about 7 AM. I didn't get too close to the cliffs but I could see the almost 90 degree angle that those men had to climb and it just astounded me. At Pointe du Hoc there were deep holes in the ground from bombs. The land   is scarred. In a way it looks like how I picture the moon to look with all the holes in the ground only Pointe du Hoc has started to heal with the growth of grass and the slow deterioration of the German bunkers. These bunkers were meant to last, like really last. Not as in temporary only for the war but for post war time that in the German eyes would not necessarily be occupation of French land but those bunkers were built to the long haul. I ran all over the land that was so heavily fought far and every inch was a milestone to the troops but for me it was just another step. It is crazy to think that can take a thousand pictures and see the beauty of the land where as the soldiers hardly had time to think because they were fight for my freedom. 

At Pointe du Hoc I went in to one of the lite German bunkers and they were larger than I expected and warming as well. Looking up you could see the charred wood of the ceiling as the only marker of the fact that when the American troops invaded they took flame throwers to the bunkers and fried the Germans. The bunkers were not hidden but they were nearly impenetrable unless you of course had a flame thrower. Walking back I could only think of the soldiers who saw this land after the invasion was some of the hardest fought for land in the war. And what it must have looked like to them; dirty, charred, devastated but glorious and miraculous all the same. 

The next stop on our tour was at the actual Omaha Beach that was stormed by American troops in the early morning hours of June 6. 1944. We spent very little time there but we did get to go on the beach that turned red from fallen men. It was so weird being there. You stand there knowing that over 2,000 men were killed on the sand you shake off your shoes but when you turn around you see fairly fancy and large houses. Yet these houses fly the American Flag just as high as the French Flag. It is such a confusing time with such conflicting emotions. For these people live on history every day and take it for granted but they in a quite manner honor the history that their lives intertwine with every day.  

The one place that I will never be able to describe is the American cemetery in Normandy the finally resting place of 9,387 military personal who gave their life for our freedom. My quote from the top comes from "The Wall of the Missing" which has 1,557 names inscribed on it. Standing there reading the names I just wanted to cry, just as I do now remembering it. I walked through the cemetery and wished I could take a picture of every head stone and show it to the family that probably will never see it. The lack of closure on land that is meant for it was heart breaking. There were so many I wanted to go on forever and read every name but I couldn't. I couldn't read every name even if I had the time because 1,557 stones have no name. 1,557 stone have the "Here rests in honored glory, a comrade in arms, known only to God." Every single one of those stones rubbed salt in my wounded heart. The place was crowded but still so moving. Since we went the day after D-Day there was a small gathering of veterans of WWII and some of them had "Normandy" pins on their uniforms. We clapped and thanked them from their valiant service. My above description doesn't even attempt to describe the feeling you get walking through the cemetery and finding a quiet place to break down inside. I would recommend that if you are ever anywhere in France you to the cemetery even if you don't go to any of the stormed beaches.

Hoping back on the bus we drove by Gold Beach where the British landed and took about ten minutes at the windiest beach of them all and they all were ridiculously windy. The Canadians stormed a small but harsh Juno Beach. I didn't spend much time there since we were almost done with the trip and I was so very tired but I was an unforgiving beach to say the least. 

On the bus ride back we ate at a gas station and on hour 14 we arrived back in Paris behind the statue of Joan of Arc. Walking over to the Tuileries Gardens in front of the Louvre and running alongside the Seine that had the Musee d'Orsay on the other side, we watched the sun set while eating ice cream. It was a wonderful cap to a very long and emotional day.

Jusqu'à demain
Bisous, Janice

The beautiful French countryside drive to Normandy

The eyes of the whole world are upon you. The hopes and prayers 

of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you."

 General Eisenhower to troop for D-Day 

I assume a German gun was there in the middle.

These were everywhere along the coast.

Could you image scaling cliff sides 

like that while under fire?

Inside a German bunker. Look at the ceiling

you can see the fire damage done.

The whole landscape was pocketed by bomb holes.

Omaha Beach

"The Wall of the Missing"

"Here rests in honored glory, 

a comrade in arms, 

known only to God."

9,387 graves too many

Juno Beach

Joan of Arc

Sunset in the Tuileries  Gardens

Decompressing from the day with a beautiful view