May 13, 2019: Normandy Beaches and the D-Day Landing
Today was a day of remembering the sacrifices made by the “Greatest Generation”. Every person (especially politicians) should be required to experience the somber sights on the beaches of Normandy. We first visited the American cemetery where 9,386 soldiers (including 4 women) are buried, the victims of the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944. It is a somber sight and a reminder of the horrors of war. A local guide walked us through the garden-like location that overlooks Omaha Beach (where US troops landed), sharing stories of what happened during that invasion and facts about the cemetery. Note: The other invasion site the US was responsible for was Utah beach which we did not visit.
By the way do you know what the D means in D-Day? I did not, so I looked it up. It simply stands for “day” as it was day 1 of the invasion. Now you know the rest of the story.
Our next stop was at Pointe du Hoc, the site where Lt. Colonel Rudder’s 225 Rangers launched an assault on a German gun emplacement located on top of a 100 foot cliff that the soldiers had to climb. The site has been left unrestored, with multiple bomb craters and destroyed gun emplacements still there. The assault was ultimately successful but at a heavy loss of personnel. Rudder’s Rangers suffered a seventy percent casualty rate. Less than seventy-five of the original 225 who came ashore on 6 June were fit for duty. Of those who served in the 2nd Ranger Battalion on D-Day, seventy-seven were killed and 152 wounded. If you are interested there is a good description of the battle on www.armyhistory.org.
As an aside, friends from Wisconsin (Bob & Marji Horvat) have a direct connection to the D-Day invasion. Bob’s father was involved in the invasion, and survived. And if I recall correctly he might have been part of the assault on Pointe du Hoc with the ranger unit.
Leaving the Omaha Beach area we drove to the village of Arromanches-les-Bains where the British managed an amazing engineering feat by building an artificial harbor during the D-Day invasion in a period of a week or so, sinking old ships and concrete caissons to create a harbor where supplies could be unloaded to support the invasion. During the 10 month period of use 2.5 million troops, 500,000 vehicle and 4 million tons of supplies were unloaded here. Prior to visiting the museum We had some free time for lunch and sightseeing in the village. We then visited a local museum dedicated to the harbor project where we saw a movie about its fabrication and viewed very good displays of military hardware and clothing worn by the various allied troops. The building of that harbor was a very impressive feat of engineering and deployment. You can still see portions of the harbor still afloat off the beach 75 years later.
It was then back to our lovely hotel (Hotel du Golf Barrière), located a few miles outside Deauville where we had a group dinner at the hotel.
Tomorrow we will visit Mont-Saint-Michel (which is in Normandy not Brittany as some claim) and then head to the neighboring area of France called Brittany.