Remembering Normandy...

On Sunday morning I woke up to a brilliantly bright morning. And I was happy that I had planned my tour through the World War 2 battle sites for such a bright day. I guess this was important to me because first I knew I would be emotional going to these beaches and I thought the sun might brighten my spirits and might help me to not be completely pathetic. I was going on Ellwood von Scibold D-Day Battle Tours. This man really knows his stuff. He starts the tour off at his house in Ste. Mere Eglise.

Ste Mere Eglise

This is the first town to be liberate on the Western Front. It was liberated by those wonderful 82nd Airborne! This town was also made famous by the movie "Longest Day" about how one of the 82nd got caught in the church steeple in the midst of the battle for the town and lived to tell the story. This town has all the charm and pride of the 1944 D-Day invasions. Interestingly on the day we were there they were honoring the American Indians for their part in the envision with a touching ceremony at the Airborne Museum. It was really nice to see some of the vets in the town where they once fought. On a negative note it was sad that I over heard a few people say," What did the Native Americans do for WW2," which just made me think of the negative racist cloud that followed the US military through out WW2. Segregation and not allowing people of color to participate in victory parades while the other countries did. What a pity.

Utah beach

Utah beach was the most successful D-Day beach. This is the American landing that went right to plan. In the fight a little more 250 were killed and the troops were able to keep moving forward to Ste. Mere Eglise to meet up with the 82nd. Ellwood did a great job at laying out the game plan of each beach and showing what was and wasn't successful that day.

Pointe du Hoc

The mission commanded by Rudder (Whoop) and the 2nd Ranger Battalion. The ladscape still looks as it did after the war. Massive craters unearth underground German bunkers. Then you look down the cliff and try to envision a few hundred Rangers climbing up the cliff with German shooting down at them from above. It is just unthinkable. Then to get to the top of cliff to relize the guns you were ment to capture have already been moved and now you have to go find them. Pointe du Hoc had the highest death rate for a reason it was literally all up hill.

Omaha Beach

Well, everyone knows this story of Omaha Beach, lots of mistakes, 7 times more Germans there then expected, and alert to the fact that the Allies were invading, bad weather, seasickness, ect ect ect. The biggest loss of any of the D-Day Beaches. As one veteran says by the 3rd wave the shore was already packed with bodies that you couldn't even see the sand. The men left on the beach were young, scared and trying to stay alive. If you go to honor D-Day in one place, I would say go to Omaha. Standing in the sand I left myself imagine some of the images we have of that day. And in that moment it took me somewhere unexpected to a place unknown to me until that moment. I started to think of the thousands who died and then next moment I was thinking about the thousands of others who lived through and witnessed D-Day. They then continued the mission going to other battles in other town and countries. What did they leave on this beach? How did this beach change them? From this beach on this boys became men, actually more than men because most men have never experienced anything like this. But this was a time before war trauma and the understanding that seeing traumatic events lead to trauma, and post war stress syndrome. These men had a hold it inside and only talk about the glory and honor of war. Standing on Omaha beach I realized that more then just lives were lost on this beach but the innocence of a generation. Not that I don't think most of these veterans would say it was war and it was worth it. Cause I know they would be right. I come from a soft generation where war has not meant any real sacrifice to the majority of Americans. But for some reason that day on that beach my thoughts took me there.

American Cemetery in Normandy

Sitting on a hill over looking the Omaha beach lies the American Cemetery in Normandy. Here lies 9,387 Americans who lost their life in the Allies battle for Normandy. The size of this cemetery is massive especial when you think of the short time frame that they all died in. This was a perfect end to the day because it allowed me to reflected with the visual evidence of the crosses to show the scale and loss of June 6th. As you come in you are coming from the east and at first inspection you think the tomb stones are without words but then you realize that they are not facing the east but the west. The tomb stones run parallel with Omaha beach facing the west towards America. I found this so touching. And as I walked down row by row I started to fully feel the impact of how Nationayl this all came together. Every state is represented here laying next to the brothers they fought with. I was lucky enough to be at the cemetery at Taps the whole cemetery stood at attention as the American flags came down and the horn played.

I hope people continue to remember I hope people continue to go. I hope these events don't fade into history like many of the battles of World War 1 did. As the veteran die their stories die. But I hope their legacy continues to live on. This day has forever changed me.