70th Anniversary of D-Day

Steve & Dominic

A guest post from Dominic. The trip to Normandy was a graduation present, he and Steve also stopped in Paris before their flight home! Enjoy! ~M

As readers of my mother's blog and facebook page may know, I recently went to Normandy

on the 70th anniversary of D-Day. My father and I flew into Paris the Wednesday before D-Day.

Villedieu-les-Poêles

The first stage of the trip was renting the car and driving to Normandy. This took longer than expected due to traffic and a frank underestimation of the distances involved. Once we arrived, check-in was a breeze and we walked around the town where we were staying. Despite being over an hour from the beaches involved, the town was still decked out in American, British and Canadian flags and there was even a small exhibit to D-Day in the town square. That night we were thrown off by the sun not setting until nearly 10:30 at night. 

Ranger Monument - Pointe du Hoc

German observation point under Ranger Monument

Toruck - a tank turret would sit on top

Gun emplacement

The next day we left the hotel at 8 to head to the beaches. The first day we headed towards Omaha Beach and while driving there we were shocked to see a genuine WWII jeep driving along the road. We first visited Pointe du Hoc and saw some re-enactors there as well as the vast scale of the landings and defenses. The landings took place on beaches spanning miles upon miles (<50 miles), with Pointe du Hoc in between the two American beaches on high cliffs. 

Jeep at Omaha Beach

Deuce and a halfs on Omaha

Encampment above Omaha

Evening at Omaha Beach

Sherman Tank

C47 being chased by C130

After this we went to Omaha beach and then what we saw kind of blew our minds. Hundreds of re-enactors, hundreds of antique jeeps, deuce and half trucks, tanks, and even an old C-47 plane. This was to be a continuing trend for the entirety of the trip.

Steve and Dominic at Utah Beach

Re-enactors in St-Marie-du-Mont

The second day we spent time visiting towns where paratroopers jumped into. Due to traffic slowly increasing we decided to walk from town to Utah beach. On this walk we found the statue memorializing Captain Winters from Easy Company, featured in Band of Brothers. 

Captain Winters

After a long walk and tour of the museum we began the walk back. However we soon decided to try and hitch hike our way back. This worked out better than expected when a WWII jeep driven by a nice French couple stopped and picked us up, after a limited conversation in German they dropped us off in town and right by our car. 

On the road to Utah Beach

Our last day there we visited the American cemetery. It was an extremely humbling experience to visit the cemetery.

American Cemetery

Dominic at American Cemetery above Omaha Beach

On the way out however we hit some traffic that can only be described as severe. While my Dad sat in the car in traffic, I walked up the road to buy some sausages. After a couple hours to cross about a mile we finally managed to begin moving at a more appropriate pace. Due to justified fears of more traffic we took a "back road" which rapidly turned into something little more than a trail. It did however have the noticeable benefit of having no traffic upon it.

Traffic Free!

In summary the trip was a blast for me and my Dad. We not only learned a lot but also sampled the local Norman cuisine and brought back some cider and Calvados, not so big a hit with the family.

Dominic and Steve - Eiffel Tower

Dominic

Dominic - Arc de Triomphe