D-Day Beaches

Our foremost reason for visiting Normandy was a visit to the D-Day beaches. As Americans, we felt a strong desire to pay our respects to those who sacrificed all.  It was a deeply moving and emotional place, to see first hand the scars of war on the ground at Point du Hoc and the rows of white crosses where sons, brothers, and husbands lie.

We set out after breakfast by car from our B&B in Bayeux. It was only about a 15-20 minute drive to the Normandy American Cemetery. We were able to find a parking space easily and got in line to enter the Visitor's Center. Entrance is free, however you must pass through security first which takes a bit of time. The Visitor's Center is simple and very nicely done. The walls are glass, giving a beautiful view of the beaches. The upstairs has a few exhibits on individual soldiers, as well as computers to look up the fallen and where they are buried. Downstairs had exhibits on weapons, equipment, and radios, and a few areas playing videos in English or French. Heading outside, you first pass through a "Hall of Names", where you hear names of the fallen read.

Once outside, we looked over Omaha Beach, where in 1944 the Allied Forces landed for the greatest invasion in history. We know what happened here, but it's still so hard to comprehend.

We had an emotional walk through the cemetery where 9,387 American military are buried. Words can't describe the experience. It was incredibly sad.

We left the cemetery and headed down the coast, before long we found ourselves in an old German bunker. It was amazing to see the vantage point they had. Our boys had a great time running around, theme music going, messing with the machine gun. It was here we began a string of run-ins with a group of American military officers touring the battlefield, which surprisingly, were some of the only Americans we noticed. We heard mostly French, but also some English with British accents, or as Garçon Livre calls it, "London English".

Next, we headed over to the jagged cliffs of the Pointe du Hoc. The evidence of war in this area is startling and horrifying.

At the Pointe du Hoc, a cross honors American Rangers who scaled these cliffs using hooks under heavy enemy fire. Their mission was to destroy the German gun batteries strategically placed here, where they had a vantage of the nearby beaches. The battalion's casualty rate for this mission was greater than 50 percent.

"And the American Rangers began to climb. They shot rope ladders over the face of these cliffs and began to pull themselves up. When one Ranger fell, another would take his place. When one rope was cut, a Ranger would grab another and begin his climb again. They climbed, shot back, and held their footing. Soon, one by one, the Rangers pulled themselves over the top, and in seizing the firm land at the top of these cliffs, they began to seize back the continent of Europe." 

-President Ronald Reagan on the 40th Anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 1984.

Our time in Normandy is an experience we will not forget. Remembering our fallen and seeing our flag made us very homesick. How fortunate and grateful we are to be Americans!