Hey guys!  I’ve got three more blogs to write to round out our France trip, but I’m finding it challenging to finish them up now that I’m back in the real world. 😦  So my apologies – and here’s 1 of 3 posts that I owe you.  Enjoy!

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I remember distinctly learning about WWII for the first time. I was in 8th grade and had an amazing English/ History teacher then – Mrs. Sanderson. Our class listened intently as Mrs. Sanderson lectured about the horrors and triumphs of this era.  We also watched documentaries and read Anne Frank’s diary.

I remember being so moved by the suffering of the Jewish people and all those brutalized by Hitler.  Through the years I’ve read more about WWII and seen many movies about the events.  Still, nothing comes close to setting foot on the beaches stormed by the Americans, British, and Canadians on that fateful day in June 1944.

JR and my dad were most excited about visiting Normandy and the D-Day sites as they are both history buffs.  But I found myself incredibly moved as we toured the area – more than I ever expected.

We started with a visit to the cliffs above Arromanches, the spot where the Allies established an artificial temporary harbour during the Normandy invasion.  The artificial harbour was extremely important as it allowed the unloading of heavy equipment – think tanks, massive guns, supplies for the thousands of troops – without having to wait for the conquest of deep water ports, like Cherbourg.  We visited a museum there with an incredible circle-vision movie that really laid out Hitler’s control of Europe, how quickly it spread, and then how and where the Allies took back that control.

Next we stopped to check out one of the many locations along the coast where the Germans built their bunkers, or pillboxes as they were coined.  There were a series of three bunkers here that were mainly intact, built with reinforced concrete.  You could walk all through them, around, and even on top.  These bunkers were set back a bit from the beach, but we read that the guns they fired here could still reach the water.  Chilling!

Our day ended with a visit to the American Cemetery.  They have an amazing little museum that gives you a ton of background information on all the preparation that took place before the actual invasion.  It was literally years in the making, with American troops living in England for months before they actually left for France.  Before you leave the museum to walk out to the cemetery, you pass through a hall where an ongoing recording is calling out the names of all those killed during D-Day.

The cemetery is perched along the cliffs above Omaha Beach.  It’s peaceful and touching, even beautiful with all the white crosses set against the meticulously maintained lawn.

     

Again, I was surprised how moved I was by this scene.  Even though this war took place long before I was born, the sacrifice these men made was not lost on me.  Whether they knew it or not, they are all heroes – and I’m thankful such a place exists to commemorate their bravery – and their lives cut way too short.