72nd Anniversary of World War II Allies taking Normandy France. D-Day

June 6, 2016

On May 1 we came to port in Cherbourg France.  Cherbourg is located on the northern point of the Cotentin peninsula.  It was May Day, a day that the French celebrate workers’ rights and in most parts of Europe is called Labor Day.  This was also the most moving tour we joined, because we were heading to parts of Normandy Beach. 

I am making blog entries of this trip chronologically and I find it interesting that today, June 6, I am writing about our tour to Omaha Beach.  The name of our tour…Bloody Omaha Beach.  Seventy two years ago today, on D-Day, scores of US infantry plowed ashore on Omaha Beach to begin the process of freeing France from German occupation.  We visited museums and memorials and I had a good dose of World War II history.  None of the sites visited was more touching and emotionally charged as actually being in the American military cemetery and on the beach.

There is no need for me to review the history of D Day.  We have read about it and have seen movies and documentaries about it.  Some of us have relatives who were there, some who are still living and many who don’t tell us much about their experiences…because it was so terrifying it has been secured in a safe place in the veterans minds.

Arromanches-les-Baines 

 Our first stop was at Arromanches-les-Baines, where the US military secretly built a floating port to get supplies and equipment to be used as the Allies were moving forward into France.  It was an engineering first and was accomplished against the punishing seas of the English Channel.

Remnants of the floating port in Arromanches-les-Baines

The American Cemetery at Omaha Beach 

Spirit of  American Youth Rising From The Waves

At the entrance of the American Cemetery at Omaha Beach is a memorial consisting of a semicircular colonnade with a loggia at each end showing large maps of the military operations.  In the center is this bronze statue. "Spirit of American Youth rising from the Waves".

A small portion of the American Cemetery

No words can convey the feelings that I experienced while at the American Cemetery at Omaha Beach.  The white crosses go on forever.  It is a visually stunning, emotionally charged place.  Walking through here, my heart ached for those infantry who were given the task of taking the beach and moving forward into France. The cemetery contains the graves of over 9,000 military dead, most of whom lost their lives in the D-Day landings and the ensuing operations.  During our walk through the cemetery, we observed numerous small groups, with flowers, searching for the cross of their loved one.  I could not help but pray...for their souls, for their families left behind and to be thankful for their genuinely brave execution of orders.

Omaha Beach stretches out for 8 kilometers

There are no sections of the German walls or bunkers remaining at Omaha Beach.  The beach now stretches out beautifully for over 8 kilometers and is banked by lush green hills.  It's hard to imagine the devastating events of D-Day when walking through this serene beach, but it's hard to not imagine the events because they changed the course of World War II and eventually brought the Nazi regime down.

A view of Omaha Beach from the American Cemetery

Les Braves War Memorial on Omaha Beach

A lone headstone adjacent to Omaha Beach marks the site of the
first American Cemetery in World War II

Rapeseed plants, used for feeding livestock and for the
production of canola oil, are resplendent in their yellow haze

Military debris in a field in the Normandy countryside

As we were driving through the area, we would see the occasional bunker and old military debris. Many of the residents of Normandy have used these old bunkers as storage or as foundation for their homes.  The landscape of Normandy is lush with farmlands and is peaceful.  In my imaginings, I could see the war devastated land, the tanks, transports and the thousands of soldiers doing their best to free France from German occupation.

My heartfelt thanks to those infantry who literally changed the course of the war.  Without their dogged determination, there is no telling what the world would be like today.

My thanks to Gene Hendricks for sharing his photos with me.  Some of pictures are Gene's, some are mine.  It all works out.