D-Day Beaches and American Cemetery

After spending the morning in Bayeux, I did a professionally organized half-day tour for the afternoon. I did the tour for a few reasons, 1. I didn't have a car and these places aren't that accessible by public transportation and 2. I do not know anywhere close to enough about WWII to reasonably make the trip educational. My tour guide was a man named Francis. He is from Normandy, and was very fond of all 5 Americans on the trip. Random small-world moment, when I was asking people where they were from, one couple said Missouri. I asked what part, they said Kansas City. I told them I was from Overland Park and she said, well actually we live in Mission Hills, Kansas. Huh. Not Missouri. Whatever.

We stopped first at Pointe du Hoc, where the rangers scaled the cliffs to begin the attacks of D-day. It was a very pretty view now, but on the top of the cliff we could still see the craters that had been left by the bombings that led up to June 6, 1944. The guide said the ground had filled in quite a bit, but there were still craters everywhere.

Our second stop was Omaha Beach. I don't know what I was expecting, but kids splashing in the water playing and a street vendor selling ice cream wasn't it. It was high tide, so we didn't get to walk on the beach, but we did see the memorial that is there dedicated to the war. I had read something before I took the trip that one person who visited the beach was put off by how people were laughing and having fun where so many died, but then he read one of the memorials that had a quote from a soldier saying he hoped the war brought freedom to the youth. The visitor mentioned that then the laughter of the children became ok because it really was the freedom of youth, and the whole point of fighting the war to begin with.

Our third stop was to the American Cemetery and it is by far my favorite place in France. Not because it is technically 176 acres of American soil, but because it is absolutely stunning. Here are some interesting facts I learned while there:

- Everything from the memorials to the headstones face west so that everything is looking home to the USA.

- There are 9,387 people buried in the cemetery and there is an organization in Normandy in which families adopt the graves for life. The family then pays hommage to the grave at least once a year and passes the responsibility for honoring the soldier down to their family. There are almost 8,000 families that have adopted graves. I saw a family putting flowers on one when I was there.

-The monument base that the statue rests upon is made from pebbles from the beaches where the attacks occurred.

- There are 307 bodies buried that have not been identified. There is a whole wall of soldiers whose bodies were never found. Some were found later, as recently as last year when a family started construction on a new house, those soldiers have a star next to their name on the wall.

- The families of the soldiers got to decide if they wanted the body buried in the cemetery or sent back home to the US.

- Most of the graves are marked with crosses, but there are also stars of David in the cemetery as well.

- The American Cemetery is the 2nd most-visited place in France behind Mont St. Michel, and the 2nd most-visited cemetery in the world behind Arlington.

I could have spent all day there, but our last stop was another hill-top to see bunkers and old guns. It was pretty neat. The weather was perfect and the experience was one that every American should have at least once in their life.