American Beach and cemetery - Jill and Phil

To broaden our knowledge of the whole operation, we joined a half day visit to an American landing beach called 'Omaha'. This time we were travelling with 3 generations of the one family from Puerto Rico. Grandma Norma and Grandpa, Anna, mother of Noah aged 2 and her husband; and Marie, sister to Anna. They were the friendliest of people. Anna had spent some time in Sydney so she was familiar and loved Australia. Matthew Key was our driver, a Brit married to a French girl and who has lived in France for 17 years.

Our first stop was Pointe de Hoc was one of D-day's most extraordinary achievements. The capture of the coastal artillery battery here by an American Rangers commandos, remains one of the most audacious operations ever undertaken in military history.

20190621_094951

We went down to one of the bunkers still remaining at the point. This area is still rugged and virtually untouched for 75 years, even down to a buried bag of concrete.

20190621_095813

This was one of the toughest landing beaches because the soldiers had to cross when the tide was low. So they had to run in full battle dress (weighing over 60 lbs) 200 m in the open. Then cross an open road and scale a steep cliff from where German soldiers were firing continuously.
Another group of American commandos (750) had to climb 50 m high cliffs to capture several big guns set into bunkers along the cliff top while German soldiers were firing down at them. They finally succeeded at great loss. Many ships waited to unload trucks with all the supplies needed for the soldiers as they pushed inland. It took my breath away to think of the courage of all these soldiers.

The American cemetery was set up as a temporary cemetery as the families of the American fallen had 12 months to repatriate the bodies. (Unlike the British and French who died. By law they must be buried in the field cemetery near where they fell.) Today, the necropolis is the eternal home to some 10,000 American soldiers, killed during landing operations and throughout the following weeks. The Normandy American Cemetery is situated on the summit of the plateau dominating Omaha Beach.

20190621_111635

Within this vast rectangle, parallel to the shoreline, the graves are marked with crosses and divided into ten squares. When you first approach the memorial pink roses adorn the greenery with the colonnades and a bronze statute symbolising the spirit of American youth. There is also a semi curved wall with all the names of the heroes buried here. A giant map shows pictorially the battles and a beautiful reflection lake adds to the emotion of visiting here.

20190621_110422

20190621_111044

Driving back to Bayeux via Arromanches, a very popular beach for the people of Bayeux, were wheat fields intercepted by fields of red poppies. No wonder the soldiers wanted to use this flower to heighten the memory of what happened here.