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D-Day Invasion Beaches

January 11, 2001
Pointe-Du-Hoc
On June 6, 1944, over one million Allied troops stormed ashore on the beaches of Normandy. The troops came ashore along 80 km of beaches code named Utah and Omaha (American), Gold and Sword (British), and Juno (Canadian). This action was to effectively end the war and liberate Europe from Nazi occupation.

The most difficult of the Allied Forces landing points was Pointe-Du-Hoc. It lies at the end of Utah Beach, west of Omaha Beach. At this site, 225 Army Rangers from the First US Infantry Division, supported by several battleships, scaled a one hundred foot cliff rising straight up out of the sea and defeated the Nazi troops that were defending their position. The victory did not come without a heavy toll: only thirty-five of the Rangers survived.

When the battle was over, the victorious Rangers made a shocking discovery.
They entered the pillboxes to find that most of the heavy artillery had been removed and replaced with painted wood that was covered with camouflage nets. To anyone using surveillance, it appeared that the guns were still in the bunkers, but in actuality, the Nazis had relocated them to a different position several miles down the road.
The amount of damage caused by the American Forces was astounding and made you think. The size of the craters was amazing. Gary climbed down to the bottom of one and I took his picture. That such a beautiful place could be the site of so much destruction and death is beyond belief. I could not imagine what it must have been like to be there.
The pitted ground and bunkers were left almost exactly as they were after the battle. The only changes made to the site were the addition of a walking path, a few markers to explain what had happened, and a monument to commemorate the victory.
We wandered around in the mud and light rain for a while longer touring the remaining bunkers. I took a small rock from the wall of the most well preserved one to bring home.
We were on our way out when Pete slipped in the mud and fell on his ass. He cleaned up with the Kleenexes that Mike had purchased at the airport (the best purchase of our trip so far) and we were on the road again.

Omaha Beach The fiercest fighting took place on Omaha Beach at Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer. This stretch of coastline fifteen kilometers northwest of Bayeux is the beach that was memorialized in the hit movie Saving Private Ryan. The tide was in and so we could not walk on the beach itself, but the waves washed over the protective wall and came onto the road we were driving on.

We stopped at the Musee de Omaha Beach but it was closed for the season. We took some photos of the Sherman Tank, anti-tank devices, a 155mm gun known as the "Long Tom," and then we were off.

Cathedral, Coffee, & Cool Poodles We stopped in a quaint village called Formigny. The town consisted of a small church and cemetery with a bar across the street, and a few scattered farmhouses. I wanted pictures of the church and the cemetery so we walked around the grounds of the thirteenth century abbey. When I was done, we went to the bar and had cafe au crème. The woman running the little pub was ironing clothes on a table in the bar when we arrived.
She had two poodles that were chilling in the bar.
In France it is not uncommon to see dogs (or cats for that matter) in bars and restaurants. The one poodle was named "Pitou." She was incredibly friendly and wanted attention. At first the woman seemed cold towards us, but once we said "Bon jour" to her and started to pet and play with her dog, she warmed up to us and smiled. She laughed and chatted with us while we drank our coffee and she ironed clothes. The coffee was dark, strong, and full bodied. It was the best coffee we'd had in France and the best coffee I had ever tasted. We told her so and she was very happy. Before we left, I took a picture of the dog. We paid our bill, bought some post cards, and we were back on the road.

Batterie de Longues
Our next stop was a place called Batterie de Longues.
The German artillery battery situated at Longues-sur-Mer is a classic example of the Atlantic Wall fortification. The whole area is very similar to Pointe-du-Hoc, with a forward observation bunker overlooking the cliff top.
It is the only site in France that has casemates with the original Nazi guns still in place.
We walked around inside the pillboxes and took several photos. I got my picture taken standing in the operator's spot on one of the huge cannons. We were surprised at the way the concrete bunkers stuck out amid the scenic French countryside.

Normandy American Cemetery It started to rain again so we loaded into the cars and drove to the Normandy American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer. It was only a few kilometers down the road and we arrived rather quickly. Everyone went into the information center to get pamphlets about the area and maps of the grounds. We signed the guest book and began our tour. First stop: the memorial garden.The sidewalls of the dais were covered with giant maps showing the landing positions of troops and other various details of the D-Day Invasion.
To the rear of the memorial was a lovely enclosed garden. The walls around it contained stone plaques upon which are engraved the names of the 1557 soldiers whose bodies were never recovered and remain listed as missing.
The center of the platform was dominated by a black bronze sculpture entitled "The Spirit of American Youth Rising from the Waves". It was breathtaking.
The entire memorial looked out over a large, rectangular reflecting pool.
The rain hit the pool like teardrops, creating ripples. It appeared as if Mother Nature herself was weeping for the loss of her young sons.
Beyond the pool was the cemetery.

Compared to the chaotic sites of destruction at Pointe-du-Hoc, the uniformity and sculpting of the cemetery was peacefully solemn. The precision with which the 9,386 stones were placed was spectacular.
There was row after row of white marble crosses and stars of David. The grass was kept with equal precision.
I walked out onto the perfectly groomed grass, to take a picture of one of the stones.

The Tennessee soldier's name was:
Arthur L. Lowery - 1st Lt. 503 Ftr. Sq.

Died: June 22, 1944.

I am very sorry that his first trip to France was not as enjoyable as mine, for I am sure that if he were to have seen it during peacetime, he would have loved it as much as I did. Let the world never forget his sacrifice or those of the other men buried at Normandy.
The rain really started to come down as we left for Arromanches.
Arromanches, known in full as Arromanches-Les-Bains (Pop. 411), lies on the English Channel , ten kilometers northeast of the town of Bayeux. During World War II, it was located in the British landing area known as Gold Beach and was taken by the British 50th Division on D-Day (June 6, 1944)
Arromanches became one of two assembly points for what were known as the Mulberry Artificial Harbors: temporary jetties of prefabricated concrete supports, steel spans, and floating piers that were towed across the channel in sections and aligned vertically to the beach. The British built the artificial harbor, known as Port Winston, in a single day. A similar harbor, at Omaha Beach, was destroyed (June 19-22) by harsh storms, making Arromanches one of the principal offloading areas for Allied troops and supplies. By using this marvel of engineering, the Allied Forces were able to bring ashore 836,000 troops, 220,000 vehicles, and 725,000 tons of equipment. It remained functional for ten months. The remains of the bulkheads can still be seen today.

A local museum, the Musée du Débarquement, displays artifacts, three-dimensional models, photographs, and film footage related to the Normandy Invasion. When we got to the museum, there was a huge rally of students for the "Preservation of Nature" gathered outside. We realized that if we had to fight the crowd, we would never get to the rest of the activities on our agenda. We decided to skip the museum and, instead, walked along the beach touring the remains of the bulkheads. I got a shell and a small vial of sand from the beach to bring home. While in Arromanches, we ate lunch at a nice restaurant with a VERY cute waitress. As per our usual, we sat around the table in the same places that we usually sit in at Denny's in Syracuse. I had pork cooked with a cider sauce, quiche Lorraine, and bread & cheese. The food was FANTASTIQUE! Pete and I shared a bottle of hard cider that was made in the area. Our last plan of the day was to hurry back to Bayeux to see the Bayeux Tapestry. Dating from 1077, the Bayeux Tapestry is over 900 years old and very interesting.

The tapestry is embroidered in wool on a background of linen 230 feet (70m) long and 20 inches (0.5m) high. It tells the story of William the Conqueror and his rise to the throne in 1066.

The extraordinary piece of history is on display at the Musée de la Tapisserie de Bayeux in the Centre Guillaume le Conquerant on Rue de Nesmond.The beautiful building was constructed strictly for the purpose of housing the tapestry. It is only a few blocks from the tapestry's original home: the beautiful Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Bayeux. (This page has the Full Tapestry in segments.)
We paid the student admission rate of sixteen francs to view the one-of-a-kind relic. We paid another five francs to get an audio-guide device that told the entire story and pointed out the most important details of each of the panels. It was fascinating. After the tour we went to the gift shop and I bought a complete reproduction (1/7 scale) of the medieval wall hanging to bring home. After seeing the tapestry, we headed back to our motel.
End of the Day Mike, Phil, and I lost Gary and Pete and so we decided to go to the marche to shop. I bought a bottle of wine, various cheeses, a baguette, orange juice, and chocolate. The market had a complete liquor store inside!!
When we arrived at the motel, Gary and Pete were there (as we knew they would be.) Pete wanted to take a nap, so the rest of us met up in Phil's room (which had more room) and ate cheese, bread, chocolate, smoked ham, and drank a couple bottles of wine. I saved the cork from the bottle I bought as it has nice pictures on it and it was the first bottle of wine I bought in France.

Later, (with Pete still asleep), we went for a drive and then walked around in Bayeux. We strolled the lovely streets and eventually ended up at the Bayeux Cathedral. Being late at night, it was closed and we could not go inside. We toured the outside and then headed to the car, and drove a few kilometers out into the country.

While on our drive, we fiddled with the radio dial until we found an English-speaking station. The radio in France ruled! They have no FCC governing what can be said so they swear and play music with vulgar words. We listened to American Rock & Roll and Hip-Hop, and it felt like home for a few minutes.
Everyone was getting tired so we drove back to the motel. Upon our return, Mike and I talked for a while and then turned on the TV. We watched some weird French movie with a plot that we did NOT understand, but it had NAKED WOMEN in it. Never would you see that on regular network TV in the states. It was tres bien! We watched the end of the film and then Mike lay down to sleep. It is now 2:30 a.m. I will retire and get a few hours sleep. It has been a long, interesting, reflective, educational, and fun day!!