Normandy - The 72nd Anniversary of the D Day Landing

Seventy two years ago the United States, Great Britian, Canada, along with forces of the free French launched an unprecedented naval attack against Nazi Germany.  It was not in defense of their countries, it was in defense of freedom for the millions of people in Europe that were invaded and subjugated to the Nazi regime.  Seventy two years later the people of France still mark this event with celebrations starting in April and lasting to September in cities and villages throughout France.  We were fortunate to attend a few of these memorials, celebrations and observances in the 8 days we spent in the Normandy beach area.  Our thoughts, our commentary, our pictures can not adequately tell the story of the sacrifices, bravery, and events of the days surrounding the D Day landings, we can only provide a glimpse and our impressions of this history changing event.

We started our adventure rather naively thinking that we would walk on the beaches of Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword; see a 

Bfew monuments, attend a wreath laying ceremony and call it a day.  Little did we realize the appreciation, the magnitude and enthusiasm of the French.  They have reenactments of the WWII military camps, hundreds dress in period clothes included military uniforms and 1940 era dresses and suits, they host parades with vintage military vehicles including, jeeps, old staff cars, 2 1/2 ton trucks, half tracks and different types of troop carriers, they have nightly dances with 40s music, and daily picnics and festivities, there were also many parachute reenactments with soldiers from various countries from the WWII vintage C-47 and C-54 aircraft.  In our 8 days in Normandy we stopped by the many many monuments, we stood in silence at the American, English, Canadian and German cemeteries, we observed where the troops came ashore on the Normandy cliffs and beaches, we visited  various museums dedicated to all aspects of D Day and to the American, English, and Canadian military, we witnessed several city and village celebrations, we saw the fortifications of the Atlantic Wall including the German pillboxes, observation points, gun implacements and bunkers, attended the numerous parades, plus we talked toWWII vets and current members of the American military who were supporting the events everyday!  Everyday was a new adventure and new memories that will last the rest of our lives.

What did we take away from all of this?  The men and women who fought the war were unselfish patriots who ensured the world would be a better place for all of us.  How did they accomplish this amazing invasion of the European continent, against all odds, with terrible weather, and a German defense that was put in place over a two year span that was designed to stop them?  They had to scale 30 meter cliffs in the face of German bunkers, assault the beaches with German machine guns mowing down wave after wave of the landing forces, break through hedge rows eight to ten feet high, endure fighting hand to hand, securing every farmhouse, church and building in every village; all the while pushing the Germans back and holding on to objectives already captured in face of the many counter attacks.  The individual and collective heroism may never be repeated again in history.  In addition to the fighting we were amazed at the shear numbers of men, vehicles, and supplies it took to accomplish this unprecedented invasion.  We also found a new appreciation of the free French and the resistance movement in France that helped the war effort and were specifically instrumental in the D Day invasion.  We can only imagine the suffering of the casualties, both the thousands of military and the thousands of civilians, that occurred on the days leading up to D Day and the months after the landings.  Just on the Omaha and Utah beaches, Americans lost 2500 men on June 6th and an additional 238 paratroopers.  Can anyone comprehend the destruction and loss of lives these men faced, yet they continued their quest to rid the world of the barbaric Nazi regime.  

We have visited the Warsaw ghettos, the Auschwitz death camps, talked to survivors of WWII and seen the atrocities of Hilter's Nazis in every country we visited in Europe.  We have learned of the sacrifices of not only the men who gave their lives for the freedom of people they never met, but also of the millions of civilians who died as a result of the Nazi atrocities and the war itself.  We can only pray our children and grandchildren never have to face what our fathers and grandfathers' generation faced in the 1930 and 40s.  After seeing the history of Europe, through the eyes of the people of the thirteen countries we visited on our almost three month journey, we say a prayer that we have learned a lesson form the events leading up to WWII and that the freedoms we enjoy will not be trampled on and that this nation will be forever strong enough to stop any power who would again endanger the peace and freedoms that so many sacrificed their lives for in WWII.

 

The monument to the landing forces on DDay

 

Standing in Silence at the American Cemetary at Omaha Beach!  Over 9000 American men who sacrificed their lives in Operation Overlord, the Normandy invasion of June, July and August 1944, are buried here in Normandy.

 

A German gun implacement, built as part of General Rommel's "Atlantic Wall", the defense of the northern coast of Europe!

 

This man landed on Omaha on June 6, 1944, these French ladies gave him a kiss to say thank you for his service ...notice they are dressed in 40s period dresses.

 

The 82nd Paratroopers reenactment of the June 5, 1944 parachute drop.  This was a field that was flooded by the Nazis in '44 and where several American paratroopers drowned during the night drop before the D Day landings the following morning!

 

Pointe du Hoc, the 30 meter cliffs, where the 2nd Ranger Battalion landing on Utah beach scaled the cliffs to attack the Germans and secure the beach.

 

Part of a German bunker complex that connected 4 major gun implacements.

 

 One of America's greatest generation enjoying the parade given in their honor,

We left Normandy and it's beaches but will remember forever the sacrifices of so many for the freedoms we have now!  We hope you will have the opportunity to experience the Normandy D Day observance first hand , it was the initial reason for our trip to Europe and it became the best part of a wonderful journey through 13 countries.  As we wind down and prepare for our return to the states we will bring home with us the 84 days of friendship, of building lasting memories, of traveling in four different cars and staying 33 hotels, cottages, or B&Bs, of making new friends, of having one wreck and more than a few close calls, and of course enjoying the people, food, beer and cultures of Europe.   June 15th will be a close to this exciting adventure but with over a thousand pictures and hundreds of stories, it will never be forgotten by the four of us old timers who got the chance to experience one more road trip!