Looking at the map I started recognizing names of small villages... and then realized we were right where D-Day action took place in 1944.
Vicious battles were fought on these fields...
That is the town of Carentan, a place I remember from watching the tv-series Band of Brothers.. if you haven't seen that series, do. I highly recommend it as a great history lesson.
(I only realized a couple photos later that my light metering was waaaaaayyyy off... still in last night's settings LOL)
We ended up by the sea.
On the westernmost of the landing beaches, Utah Beach.
A lovely, breezy, fairly quiet place on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean.
Five kilometers of beach.
On June 6th 1944 nearly 24 00 American troops landed here with only about 200 casualties. Far far less than some miles east on Omaha Beach...
Still.. eating a picnic lunch on the rocks I couldn't but wonder...
How difficult it must have been with those high banks to conquer...
The tide was going out and what happened was this...
The longer you stood in one spot, the deeper in the sand you went :)
It was a good place to stop and ponder, but it was time to hop back in the car.
And after seeing one sign, we decided there was still time for one detour.
As Saara will be studying WWII next semester, I thought it was a good time to give her an idea of the proportion of casualties in just that one place.
This amazing view is right above Omaha Beach where 3000 American soldiers were killed on D-day.
The Normandy American Cemetery and memorial contains the remains of 9,387 American military dead, most of whom were killed during the invasion of Normandy and the following military operations in World War II.
There's a path from the cemetery down to the beach...
Certainly a place that makes you quiet.
Certainly a place that makes you quiet.
The inscription on the graves of the unknown soldiers read: Here rests in honored glory a comrade in arms known but to God.
The rows of marble crosses with occasional stars of David.
I have never visited a cemetery more immaculately kept.
Not one blade of grass in the wrong place.
(there weren't that many visitors right then, so I was able to take photos with no people in them.. just the way I wanted)
I'm so glad we stopped.
There are some things you need to see to understand.
So you can appreciate what the past generations have endured.
If you are ever in Normandy, don't drive past this place.
This is a place I've heard about, learned about, and have seen pictures of, but yours are different somehow, they are from a different viewpoint and not the "perfect textbook photos." They have what real eyes would see and it really makes it more real and easier to reflect on the things that happened there. But yet, they have beauty so it doesn't seem to hurt too much to remember what happened there and how many gave their lives.
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