Normandie

This past weekend I visited some sites of D-Day in Normandy. We went to the Caen Museum which covered all of WWII from France's perspective. The museum was over all, very well done, of course it lacked details in areas that weren't as important to France as they might of been to other countries. But it is definatly interesting to see historical events from another countries point of view. I don't think that I can describe everything in just, it is something that one would have to see and feel what is like to be there for themselves.

 

We went to the American Cemetery for an hour and for that hour I was actually on American soil. The pure white crosses were plentiful, strategically placed as if they grew there and are forever growing up in glory. It was like looking down at a field of corn that had been sowed with the upmost care.

We walked on Omaha Beach. The beaches seem to be the lucky ones, they have the waves to heal there scars as time goes by. You could step onto to them without realizing what had happened if it wasn't for the memorials calling back the memories. After Omaha Beach we made a stop at Point du Hoc, the ocean side clifftop where the Texas Rangers climbed there way up the impassable cliff. Point du Hoc has many visible scars left in the land. It was a little eery being there.

My Paw was in the 82nd Airborne division that landed in Sainte Mere Eglise. While I did not get to go there, the Caen museum did have a wall dedicated to Operation Overload. You could always get him started with question about the war and I couldn't help but think how wonderful it would of been to have him there telling me about it first hand instead of reading about it. I wondered if those were his buddies on the wall and if he was in the pictures but I didn't realize it.