As a history buff I’ve read many accounts of the June 6, 1944, D-Day landings, and of the battles that took place over the days and weeks that followed as the allies pushed inland. For a long time I’ve wanted to see the beaches, towns, hedgerows, and cemeteries for myself, and today I finally got the chance. Happily, the weather cooperated, which it doesn’t always do here, and we spent a long and satisfying day making history come alive.
We were docked in Le Havre, a bit of a drive from the Normandy beaches, so like yesterday’s visit to Mont Saint Michel we began our excursion with a two and a half hour bus ride and view of the countryside.
During the ride our guide educated me on one of the basic rules of French pronunciation, which is that when a word ends in a consonant, you don’t pronounce it. So Caen, a city we drove through on our way to Omaha Beach, is pronounced “Coh.” I still need to work on why the “ae” in Caen is pronounced like a soft “o,” but one French step at a time, right?
One other factoid before I get to the heart of the tour. I ever so briefly mentioned yesterday that the French hedgerows go back to the time of the vikings. To elaborate, Normandy gets its name from norsemen, who raided and then settled here more than a thousand years ago. Indeed, William the Conqueror, victor in the Battle of Hastings in 1066, was a sixth generation viking. How about that.
Our first stop was the one I most wanted to see, the American Cemetery above Omaha Beach, where almost 9400 American soldiers are buried. You’ve probably seen photos if you haven’t been there in person, so you know that these heroes are buried in rows of white crosses and Stars of David. To say it was moving would be a profound understatement. What you may not know if you haven’t been there is that there’s an impressive memorial in the cemetery, along with a reflecting pond and a tasteful chapel. The grounds are beautiful and are immaculately maintained. My visit here was long overdue, but I finally got it done. Please come if you can.
Our second stop was also an important one, and one all Americans should visit if they get the chance: Omaha Beach. Omaha Beach, along with Utah Beach, comprised the American landing zone, and it was the more difficult and bloodier of the two. One caution, though. If you come expecting it to look much like it did on D-Day, you will be surprised, and possibly disappointed. The beach is a recreation area, with cafes, cyclists, picnickers, a few swimmers (the water’s really cold), and tourists all mingling together.
Still, it’s possible to envision the battle, given the steep hills just off the beach and the German bunkers and pillboxes that remain at the site. We spent more than half an hour walking around the beach, and I climbed one of the hills to inspect a German bunker, which provided its gunners with a sweeping view of the beach below. When you see that it’s possible to understand why the Americans on Omaha Beach suffered fifteen times as many casualties as those on Utah Beach, the other American landing site.
Afterwards, we backtracked a bit to Bayeux, the first town liberated on D-Day, and by happy chance just about the only town or city in Normandy untouched by the fighting. Today 12,000 people call Bayeux home, but it has a cathedral worthy of a city twenty times its size, due to its relative importance a thousand years ago. The Cathedral as it stands today was completed in the 1400s, but construction began 400 years earlier.
As you might imagine of a town untouched by war, Bayeux has many charming, old buildings. It’s also a tourist town, with lots of cafes, patisseries, and souvenir shops. I was ready to pronounce it worthy of a visit already, but then came the stunning finale that elevated my opinion of Bayeux to “must visit,” if you’re ever in Normandy. It’s the Bayeux Tapestry, a magnificent 230 foot long, thousand year old tapestry that depicts the events leading up to and resulting from the Battle of Hastings in 1066. That was the battle in which William, the Duke of Normandy, led the Norman army across the Channel to England, defeated the Anglo-Saxons under King Harold, took the throne, and was thereafter known as William the Conqueror.
The woven tapestry tells the story in more than forty continuous panels, and visitors are given headsets upon entering that allow them to understand each panel as they walk along the tapestry on a self guided tour. The tour takes about 25 minutes, and I was mesmerized. Why didn’t I know about this before? And now you know too, if you didn’t before. Come here and do this. It’s amazing.
By now it was after 4:30, and we still had a long drive back to Le Havre, so I was definitely happy to return to the bus to relax, review my photos, and start writing this post. Unlike yesterday’s rushed and poorly executed trip to Mont Saint Michel, I thought today’s tour went really well, and I returned to the ship with a smile on my face.
Now we need to get some rest, because we have another big day planned for tomorrow in Versailles, and I can’t wait to tell you all about it, so stay tuned.
We passed the Overlord Museum on our way to the American Cemetery. There are enough museums and historical sites in Normandy to keep a history buff occupied for weeks.
Entrance to the American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer.
Part of the Memorial near the Cemetery entrance.
You’ve probably seen photos like this before. Seemingly endless rows of the graves of American heroes.
While the majority of the graves are marked by crosses, there are approximately 155 that are marked by Stars of David. I thought I should show one.
The grave of a Pennsylvanian.
There is a very nice chapel at the Cemetery.
The chapel altar.
This beautiful mosaic is on the ceiling of the chapel.
The reflecting pond with the Memorial in the background.
Memorial statue at Omaha Beach.
A very effective 88 millimeter Cannon displayed inside one of the German bunkers overlooking Omaha Beach.
The view down the beach from a German bunker. The Germans would have been able to sweep the beach with fire from this position.
This is the bunker I climbed up to that had the view of the beach in the previous photo.
Side entrance the German soldiers would have used to enter the bunker.
The slab of concrete these tourists are standing on is what’s left of a Mulberry harbor, a temporary harbor that was towed across the Channel and intended to be used by the allies at Omaha Beach until they could capture an actual harbor.
These girders were part of the Mulberry harbor.
On our way to Bayeux we passed the British Cemetery.
Downtown Bayeux, miraculously untouched by the war.
Would you agree that Bayeux is postcard pretty?
The Bayeux Cathedral.
Front of the Cathedral from just up the street.
Inside the Cathedral.
Some very pretty artwork in the Cathedral.
Dedication to the British soldiers who fell in France in World War I.
Stained glass windows in the Cathedral.
We were able to go down in the crypt under the nave.
Artwork in the crypt.
Another view of downtown Bayeux.
Tourist train chugging along a narrow side street.
The Bayeux Museum, where the Bayeux Tapestry is displayed.
A tiny segment of the incredible, thousand year old, 230 foot long Bayeux Tapestry. The Tapestry told the story of the Battle of Hastings in vivid pictorial detail, a great benefit to the largely illiterate populace.
The statue and former home of Alain Chartier, local poet and patriot who died in 1430.
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