Remember America’s Servicemen and Women
I paid my respects to the US’s WWII casualties a little early this year on a trip to Normandy last week. A friend and I took a battlefield tour of Utah and Omaha beach, ground zero for the American armed forces on D-Day in 1944. A partial list of sites we were fortunate to see (thanks for the pictures, Jennie!):
Angoville-au-Plain- A small church in an even smaller town (population: 46) a few miles from Utah beach housed a makeshift hospital run by Airborne medics Bob Wright and Ken Moore. Dedicated to St. Cosmas and St. Damien, the patron saints of Doctors and Physicians, only 2 soldiers died in the church and out of 80 that were treated. Many of the stain glass windows (replaced after the war) honor this impressive humanitarian achievement of these two medics.
St. Mere-Eglise- The first town liberated by US Paratroopers on D-Day. Featured in many scenes in the movie The Longest Day.
Hedgerows- the hedgerows these days are much tamer than they must have been in 1944 after 2 years of neglect. We drove down several hedgerows converted into narrow roads, and even after being trimmed by Norman farmers you couldn’t see through them. All the stories you read about the bocage are true- it’s almost impossible to imagine how the Allies advanced field by field through such strong (pseudo-) natural barriers in the face of expert Nazi defense.
Utah Beach- By far the “easiest” beach on D-Day, Utah is the beach where almost everything went as planned. We were able to visit at low tide at both Utah and Omaha, and thus were able to get a better idea of what the beach looked like to the troops that were landing. The red-roofed house you see in the picture was used as a landmark by the Allied landing forces (indeed it’s pretty much the only distinguishing feature for a mile or two in either direction).
Pointe du Hoc- site of a German gun battery, Pointe du Hoc is located at the far western edge of Omaha beach. On D-Day, a company of Rangers was assigned to scale the 100-ft cliffs to neutralize the guns. You can’t really get a great view of the cliffs from on top of them, but you do get to walk around the impressive amount of craters from the massive Allied bombing effort. In addition, you really realize how strong the German gun emplacements were- one of the concrete bunkers has a huge crater right next to it where a bomb scored almost a direct hit and it’s not even scratched. Another has the corner chipped off of it courtesy of a shell from the USS Arkansas, but again the damage is extremely minor compared to the size of the entire thing. It was also pretty amazing to stand on maybe a half-kilometer stretch of land realizing that it took over two days of fighting to secure it.
Omaha Beach, Dog Green sector- This was the bloodiest sector of the bloodiest beach on D-Day. Arriving at low tide, you’re immediately struck by the tall bluffs that rise sharply from the beach. Then you notice little holes in the side of the bluffs where the Nazis mounted their machine guns. When we were there it was low tide, but was not at the minimum tide for the year. It was still a good 500 meters or so to the water, and when you think about how the landing craft couldn’t go right up to the waterline the distance is even more impressive. The beach itself is gorgeous- smooth, soft sand and a gentle curve. Knowing the history that took place there puts a much darker twist on it.
American Cemetery, Colleville-sur-Mer- Rows and rows of white marble crosses and Stars of David mark the resting places of over 9000 American servicemen and women from the Normandy campaign. The faces bearing the names of the fallen face west across the sea towards the United States, while the eastern faces of the gravestones only contain a service number to symbolize the equality of every man and woman who served. The wall of the missing contains the names of over 1,500 servicemen and women whose remains have not been found. The cemetery is fastidiously maintained, and standing amongst row upon row of geometrically placed gravestones is very moving.
If you’re at all interested in WWII history I highly recommend a trip to Normandy. We took day tours on both Battlebus and Overlord Tours and were generally pleased with both (although Battlebus was better). You get a really great sense of what happened and, at least for me, a much greater appreciation of what WWII veterans had to go through to get to where we are today. Hope everyone in the States has a safe and pleasant Memorial Day.
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