Normandy Beach

It was wet, cold, and windy the day or our tour in Normandy.  Dan said the weather was perfect; just like it was on D Day.   We began our tour by going to the German Cemetery.  As we looked at the crosses marking the graves of German soldiers, many with out names, I felt a sense of sadness at the unnecessary loss of life that war causes.  These German soldiers had families, people who loved them.  Many were fighting for their country, not Hitler's ideals.  German's believe that they should be buried where they died, so most of these soldiers died in France and were buried there, never to go home again.

 Next we went to the  village of St. Mere Eglise.  This is where the para troopers landed by mistake.  There was a fire in the village that night and the pilot of the plane with the para troopers saw it and thought it was the signal flares and had the boys jump.  St Mere Eglise was controlled by the Germans.  As the jumpers landed, some of them were shot, captured, or were able to get away and hide until they were able to regroup.  One para trooper, John Steele, got caught on the spire of the church and hung there all night with the bells ringing in his ears.  He was cut down and captured in the morning but was able to escape later back to the Americans a little later.  There is a museum in St Mere Eglise that shows a film, and has some of the gliders used to drop the para troopers off.

Next we went to Utah Beach.  Dan has a friend, John Crotty, who landed in the second wave on Utah beach.  He has always wanted to go there and see where John talked about.  As we stood on the beach looking out  to the ocean, feeling the wind and rain, I tried to imagine what those young soldiers felt as they were coming ashore.  All around them soldiers were being shot at by the Germans as they scrambled up the beach.  Many were sick from the motion of the boats and all were scared to death.  We also went to Omaha Beach.  I felt the same things as I looked at the high cliffs they had to scale before getting to some sort of safety.  Again the Germans were shooting at them  Many fell that day, some drowning because of the weight of their equipment and being dropped in the water, and many blown up or shot to death.

We went to the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial last.  The Cemetery over looks Omaha Beach.  As we stood looking at row after row of white marble crosses and star of Davids, I felt myself tearing up at the massive loss of life and this was just a small representation of what this war cost.  As we read the names of the soldiers on the crosses, and looked at their age when killed, I thought about my own sons and how grateful I was that they didn't have to fight a war.  I also thought about my grandsons and prayed that they would never have to fight a war.  Over 3000 crosses, a sea of white, a holy remembrance of the great sacrifice of so many.  I pray that we will never have to sacrifice so much again.

The last stop