September 18th, 2008 Part I

It was going to be a busy and exciting day. We were going to see some of the D-Day beaches, the American Cemetary, the Bayeux Tapestry and the Abbey of Mont St. Michel. It started with would be become routine. Wake-up call at 6:15 a.m., bags out and breakfast at 7:00 a.m. and departure at 8 a.m. First, we drove by Sword beach which looked like any normal beach. Then, we drove to Gold beach (Arromanches) where the Allies built a temporary port. You can still see 15 of the breakwaters they sank there. We saw the monument that was erected in memory of what they did. The beach itself was very pretty and peaceful. It was hard to believe a terrible bloody battle had been fought there. Barring the breakwaters, there weren't any traces of it. Life truly goes on and those that remember the great battle fought there are dying off. It was very sad to think about that.

It was more sad to look at row upon row of white marble crosses and Stars of David at the American Cemetary at Colleville-sur-Mer. The cemetary is right next to Omaha Beach. A number of those buried in the cemetary may have died on that very beach. I walked along and read unknown names and dates when they died. A few had no name and were known only to God. The cemetary was beautifully maintained. Our guide told us they employed 6 gardeners and it showed. It was right that it should look so beautiful as this was hallowed ground. It would've been a disgrace if it had been otherwise. I could only hope we wouldn't forget what those brave souls that were buried there did. It was truly epic and noble. It is ironic that people now a days call them naive but, I think they were otherwise. In my opinion, I think they were far better people than we are today.

Our last D-Day stop was Pointe du Hoc. The name itself doesn't mean anything. It was just a name assigned to a point that the Allies felt they had to take. German guns at Pointe du Hoc over looked Omaha and Utah Beaches. If the guns weren't knocked out, Allied losses would be far greater and the landings at those beaches could've failed. 225 Army rangers were given the task of scaling 100 foot high sheer cliffs and knocking out the guns. It would be an incredible task. When the battle was over, only 90 rangers were left alive. To their dismay, the Germans had moved the guns before the attack making the attack pointless. Unlike Gold and Omaha Beaches where virtually nothing remains of the battle, Pointe du Hoc was left as it was on June 8, 1944. As far as I know, it's only part of the D-Day landings that is as it was on those fateful days. You can see bomb craters and shattered pill boxes. You can look out over the English Channel. The only you can't do for safety reasons is look down the sheer cliffs. Looking around, you can get an idea of the desperate battle that was fought here. According to Wikipedia, underneath the monument the French people built to honor the rangers is a casement that still contains the remains of some of the rangers.

As we left Pointe du Hoc, our guide told us a story. I mentioned previously William the Conqueror. Those invading Normandy in the D-Day beaches were not ignorant of history. Our guide told that at the British War Cemetery in Bayeux, an inscription says "We, once conquered by William, have now set free the Conqueror's native land." It was a beautiful closing remark on the sights we'd seen concerning D-Day. It would also lead to the final sight we would have concerning William the Conqueror. Stay tuned for Part II.