75 Years Ago

We are in France.  But I will not be telling you about Paris or Marseille or the French Riviera.  They are all very nice and they are beautiful jewels of France but today we are in Cherbourg, right outside Normandy.   Just the mention of the name Normandy and everyone knows what this is about.  It is about a 50 mile stretch of beach and what happened there 75 years ago this June.  D-Day.  The D does not actually stand for anything.  It is a military designation.  Another example is H-Hour. But if you mention D-Day, everyone knows you are speaking of June 6, 1944.

Never forget ...

... the price of Freedom

Today we were fortunate enough to visit the town of Sainte Mere Eglise, Utah and Omaha beaches where the vast majority of the American forces landed.  And then we went to Colleville-Sur-Mer the site of the American cemetery for soldiers who died in WWII.

Altar at
Sainte Mere Eglise

If these pews
could talk

Operation Overlord was the code name for the battle of Normandy.  The Allied invasion of the German occupied regions of western Europe.  In this invasion there were 5 beachheads to be established.  Each one had a code name.  From west to east they were: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword.  American soldiers, sailors and airmen fought on Utah and Omaha and the Brits and Canadians took on Gold, Juno and Sword.  But before the beaches were stormed, paratroopers from the 82nd and the 101st were dropped behind the enemy lines.  While the paratroopers rained down, they were scattered about in great numbers.  The result was a lot of confusion but what did happen is that the small community of Sainte Mere Eglise became the first town in France to be liberated.  

Do you see the parachute?

Anyone who saw the movie The Longest Day would remember the paratroopers coming down under enemy fire and all the horrors of war began.   Do you remember the actor Red Buttons coming down and his parachute catching on the steeple of the church?  He hung there playing dead and was actually wounded in the foot.   That parachute, or one depicting it, still hangs there to this day.  It is brought down and washed twice a year but they keep it there as a memorial to the men who liberated them.  There is also a very nice WWII museum in this town with much to offer.   Relics of the invasion and details of the life of a typical soldier and the resources they had in those days show us the these men and women were indeed the Greatest Generation. 

Interesting enough, I was surprised to learn that Utah Beach and Sword were actually added in at the 11th hour.  Utah was added to the west so that the city of Cherbourg, which was a valuable port city on the Cotentin Peninsula which is very near to England could be sealed off.  Also interesting is that Utah Beach was won without as much a loss of life as the other beaches.  21,000 troops landed on Utah with only 197 casualties.   Another 14,000 paratroopers and soldiers on gliders landed inland with 2,500 casualties.  Still another 700 losses came from engineer units or vessels that were sunk, etc.

Utah Beach - holy ground

Monument to the engineers who cleared Utah Beach
with both American and French flags always flying together

Memorial to those who served at Utah

Higgins Boat Memorial with soldiers rushing off
 with anti-tank obstacle (hedgehog) in foreground

Omaha beach is another story.  Here the bloodiest battles took place.  2,400 casualties resulted here but by the end of that one day 34,000 troops had landed.  The primary objective of Omaha was to establish and secure a 5 mile beachhead.  It was also important to have a link with the British and Canadian forces to the east and not have a break in the line.   Omaha did not start out well at all and twice the invasion was almost stopped due to the heavy casualties being sustained.  Part of the reason the beach was so hard to take was that the pre-battle bombardment was not as effective or as long as they wanted it to be.   Due to keeping the attack a surprise, they only bombed the beaches for about one hour prior to the invasion.  The German forces were well fortified in concrete bunkers and withstood the bombing without much damage.   Several of those bunkers still dot the beaches today and stand as quiet reminders to those days and the sacrifices made.

... walking Omaha Beach

German lookout

German bunker

Without getting into too much minutia, I would just suggest you revisit your history books and delve a little deeper into the stories of D-Day and WWII as a whole and I am sure you will come out of it with a deeper and renewed respect for what this group of people did for the world.  I would call it one of America's finest hours but I know not everyone would agree with me.

Monument at Omaha Beach

We then went to Colleville-Sur-Mer and the American cemetery.   I was again interested to learn that this was not the gravesite of only the Americans killed on D-Day.   It is, in fact, the cemetery for Americans killed in Europe during WWII.  It is actually a combination of about 10 other temporary cemeteries set up during the war.   After the war, they established the cemetery where it is today.  The cemetery has 9,388 markers but it only holds some of the soldiers who died overseas.   When it came time for permanent burial the next of kin were notified and given the choice of burial here or having their loved ones brought home.  The number I heard was that 61% were taken back home and buried in the States.  Not a single millimeter separates the straight line of white lasa marble headstones,  The grounds are kept immaculately by the American Battle Monument Commission.  45 sets of brothers are buried here, 30 side by side.  3 generals are here too, including Theodore Roosevelt Jr.  The gravestones are either the Cross or has the Star of David signifying Jewish heritage.  That is the only difference in gravestone.   The generals are buried the same as the private signifying that there is no difference in death.  307 unknown soldiers lie here and east of the cemetery is the Wall of the Missing where the names of 1,557 service men, missing in action, are listed.

Placed with precision, care, love ...

... and respect and gratitude.

Easter flowers at marker of 1st Lt. Billie D. Harris, Oklahoma

Reflecting Pool at the Memorial in the Cemetery

The site is very moving and somber and you cannot help but think of what happened here and why and how so many men and women gave their lives for the freedom of others.  It is a must stop and see location if you are ever in the area.

Let us never forget and be forever grateful.   Thank you.