July 14
Today was the day everyone on board had been pointing towards, the visit to the Normandy Beaches and the sites of the epic invasion on "D-Day" that turned the tide of World War II. It was a L-O-N-G day as we left on the bus at 8 am and didn't return until a little after 6pm (with at least five hours of that spent travelling to and from the beaches). After the first long ride, early in the morning we arrived at Pont de Hoc which was where the Germans had set up multiple bunkers which could fire up to twenty miles and could cover both Omaha and Utah Beaches - the two which were sites of the American GI's strike on Normandy. There were several amazing things.....first, how these bunkers - which the Allies need to take out - were so high up on the cliffs overlooking the beach. HOW the troops were brave enough to rush across the beaches and scale the cliffs & hills while under fire and watching thousands of the comrades fall beside them made you feel so grateful for their bravery and sacrifice. At the Florida Panthers hockey games when they honor the veterans it's always special and when they have a WWII veteran even more so. Truly inspiring. Second, the area was littered with gigantic divots in the ground which were the craters from where the Allied bombs hit; and then to be IN the bunkers and look out where the Nazi's had stood almost 80 years ago was chilling.
Loaded on board the bus and went a half hour down the road for lunch at the Omaha Beach Golf Club, passing along the way many memorials to heroic veterans and many old buildings which had survived the war - some of which had murals with blown-up photos of what this building had looked like after the invasion - one such example was a church we drove by.
After lunch we went to the American cemetery, final resting place for the more than 30,000 American soldiers who died for our freedom. Read that number again.....30,000 died at Normandy. WOW. The average age of those resting here, twenty-four years old. As a tribute to those lives cut short, the evergreen trees that line the walk way to the cemetery are cut short to represent how the soldiers' lives were cut short. Walked among the graves - was truly a heartfelt experience especially with the cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach where so many gave the ultimate sacrifice. I took a close-up picture of one cross (a soldier from my home state of Ohio) and I kept thinking about EACH cross represented a young adult who had their own story, family, etc. Truly made you feel grateful for the lives we can enjoy today.
Finally, left the cemetery to go down to Omaha Beach. How those soldiers climbed out of those transport carriers in the water, ran across this huge expanse of beach (with 60 pounds of equipment on their backs) while under terrific fire from the Nazis on the cliffs AND then scaled the cliffs and hills as fellow soldiers fell beside them....wow.
At dinner that night we sat with our great pals Pam & Bob, but were joined by new friends Roz & Brian (who will be 90 next year!) from the UK and our new friends from Boston Peter & Kathy. The selfie photo/portrait was taken by the main man server Lucien who took it upon himself (with Bob's prompting) to make my signature drink - a frozen mudslide - after everyone else at the bar for three days had said "we can't do that." BIG time thanks and appreciation to my buddy Bob and our man Lucien! Tomorrow we will be in Rouen for a tour of the capital of the Normandy region.
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