D-DAY Morning Tour

One of the main reasons we opted to spend a week near Normandy was to visit WWII memorials and learn more about what our great heroes accomplished there. Our place was about an hour away, so we rose early, driving west towards the coast. The morning was foggy and wet, which only added to the aura of what we would learn about and experience. Of all of the amazing things we have learned about the world, ourselves and America over the last ten months, nothing will make one quite so proud to be an American as visiting Normandy. We can't get everything we learned down here, but will attempt with two posts. So, here we go....

France has remnants of war scattered all around its land but the most significant to us Americans are the beaches and lands involved in D-Day in June of 1944. During WWII the majority of France was defeated by the Germans in six weeks during the summer of 1940 and was then occupied for four years by the Axis troops. The Germans moved into cities and occupied homes, living with the French people, who were given daily rations and made to wait in line every day for hours for scraps of food, while their housemates ate the best of the land. This alone was an atrocity for people who are quite proud of their food.

D-Day occurred on June 6, 1944 when the Allied troops invaded the Normandy beaches. It is often referred to as ‘The Longest Day’ (which is also a classic movie we watched with the boys), as the first attacks occurred before dawn during a rain storm, and the number of casualties was over 1500 in just the first few minutes. While the Allies were successful in capturing Normandy, it would be another three months until Paris was captured and the Germans surrendered in August of 1944.

The first stop on our D-Day tour was Long Sur Mer, a German occupied village whose title means ‘by the sea,’ or English Channel in this case. During the four years that the Germans occupied France they used 17 million cubic yards of concrete to prepare for what ended up being a few days of battle! In a two-year time period the Axis troops built the Atlantic Wall, 15,000 bunkers covering land from Northern Norway to Southern France and then they just waited for the looming attack. Operation Overload would ultimately incorporate 256,000 troops. 

German bucket at Long Sur Mer

At Long Sur Mer there were 180 mostly second rate, German soldiers – young, old, or crippled, because the best Axis soldiers were stationed close to Russia/Stalin. Each of the four German bunkers at Long Sur Mer had a gun that could shoot up to 13 miles away. The morning of the D-Day attacks 150 shots were fired; however, nothing was hit because they couldn’t see where they were aiming and bombs had blown up the communication wires, which also prevented them from successfully adjusting their aim.

Solemnly, we arrived at Omaha Beach, the four-mile stretch of rocky beach, where the difference in tide can be 20 feet. This strategic location is the point where five roads from the beach led to the main land; however there were German strongholds on both sides of each of these roads. On the morning of D-Day, two U.S. infantries landed here, soaked and freezing after having been sent out ten-miles away, with a three-hour boat ride in the rough stormy waters to reach this destination. They were met by 1,000 German soldiers, who defending the beach, had taken advantage of the crescent shape of it, and aimed their tanks east and west to shoot across the beach. The Germans had built obstacles with mines at the top and placed them along the beach so that the incoming boats wouldn’t be able to see them at high tide and therefore would be blown up. Aware of this, American troops arrived at low tide, 200 yards from land, and with no coverage. As the attack was underway, the many pebbles on the beach caused the bomb damage to be more extreme as not only did shrapnel fly, but so did the rocks, increasing the significance of damage.

Omaha Beach, a humbling place to contemplate history

An image of the beach with the German obstacles they'd set up for defense

G running along Omaha Beach

In addition to troops struggling to shore, the Allies sent 32 tanks; however 27 of them sunk. Devastatingly, 1200 tons of B52 bombers hit too far inland & killed civilians & livestock instead of German targets. These conditions caused roughly 100 soldiers to be without any type of protection and at one point in the morning, life expectancy on Omaha Beach was five minutes! The first wave that hit Omaha Beach had a casualty rate of 90%. 4000 American troops were killed, wounded or missing in action at Omaha Beach, and of those 1,500 died. Standing on the beach, imagining all of this taking place and recalling the photos of D-Day that we’ve seen over the years, gives us a deeper appreciation and understanding for why this beach is often referred to as ‘Bloody Omaha,’ where the worst battle of D-Day (and arguably the whole war) took place. We began to feel in a new way that we are witnessing some sacred places today and feel a quiet overwhelming gratitude setting in.

An amphibious tank with inflatable ribbon and 2 propellers in the lower left corner

Our guide then takes us to The American Cemetery of Colleville Sur Mer. Here lies the sacrifice of a nation, ‘The Greatest Generation.’ Remembered here are 9,386 GIs, including four women and one ‘unknown soldier’ (John Anderson-Navy) whose remains were just confirmed and who is being buried the following day (May 28th) in his hometown of Wilmer, MN! Of those who gave their lives in Normandy, 60% were expatriated, their bodies returned to the United States, because of their families wishes. American taxes pay to maintain this site, which is always managed by an American, and repatriation and family visits to this site were paid by the US into the 1980’s. There is fog looming over the cemetery, which we all comment seems to be fitting and add to the weight of these lives sacrificed for our freedom.

Boys in front of the 22 ft statue representing 'The Spirit of the American Youth Rising from the Waves'

The many who lost their lives fighting in Normandy

Marker for an unknown soldier

Mosaic in The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier that depicts America blessing her
sons as they depart by sea & air, while a grateful France
bestows a laurel wreath upon the American dead

Boys at the graves of the Nyland brothers, who inspired the story told in Saving Private Ryan

As we drove we saw a small monument marking the first American cemetery in France for WWII.  However, this cemetery did not follow US standards as it was right across the road from the beach where our soldiers landed, causing it to be one of the first things they would see when coming to land, and it is not allowed to have a grave in sight of the US soldiers during battle.

Marker for the 1st American cemetery in France

There are significant monuments and statues all around this area. One that we visited is the Ever Forward statue.  This statue is in memory of the GIs who came from Bedford, Virginia. They were called the blue and grey because in the civil war they fought against each other but now they fought together as Allied troops.  An astounding 35 young men volunteered from Bedford, VA, a very small town, and all were in Company A.  All of these Bedford soldiers were in the first wave to arrive at the beaches and within minutes 19 were killed and only 14 ever returned home. Bedford is the city with the heaviest percentage casualties on D-Day. Our guide told us that the telegrams all came to Bedford on the same day and delivering them was the worst thing the postman had to do.

Ever Forward statue

Notice that the far figure in the statue has his inflatable under his gear and around his waist. This is significant as it was supposed to be worn higher up so that when inflated the weight of equipment didn't weigh down the GI’s top half & cause him to drown. Unfortunately, the reality is that this was the cause of many GI deaths as was the scene of this statue with one man dragging a fellow soldier.

Photos of the 2 sets of brothers from VA who fought here.  The brothers at the top of the photo were both killed.
The brothers in the middle/bottom are twins & wouldn't shake hands one last time on the boat as they decided they'd do it on land... the brother on the left didn't make it.

Our last stop before lunch was Pointe DuHoc. This famous site with cliffs 100 feet high and a large rock jutting into the waters is the scene of many artists work, including Monet. The Germans were stationed here with six French guns from WWI and the US heavily bombed this location before D-Day. Point DuHoc was a strategic location because from this cliff one could see Omaha Beach to the right and Utah Beach to the left. On D-Day 225 American rangers were given 30 minutes to scale the cliffs, destroy the ammunition and secure the road. However, because of the weather conditions, some landed at the wrong spot and it cost them 40 minutes and a bombed tank. When the GIs arrived at the Point DuHoc cliffs they tried to fire up their grappling hooks but the ropes were wet, making them too heavy, so they had to change them up.  Amazingly within 5 minutes they were up the cliffs! The Germans weren’t prepared because they didn’t think anyone was crazy enough to actually land here. It was literally a suicide mission. However, there was no ammo to be found and destroyed. Reinforcements didn’t arrive for two days and by then only 80 Allied troops remained. It was one of the most daring mission accomplished on D-Day and to see this location in person raised the hair on the back of our necks.

Damage from US bombings at Point DuHoc prior to D-Day

Point DuHoc, portrayed by many artists and location where US troops landed & scaled cliffs

We also learned a bit about the French resistance, which Eisenhower said amounted to the help equivalent to 4 divisions. They passed along crucial information to troops which which helped counter attacks and infiltration of the German strong holds. Our guide joked that in reality the French were 10% resistance, 10% helped Germans & 80% claimed to be resistance once the war ended. It's interesting to note that as we drove around this area we saw as many American flags as French. There's a deep felt pride here for what America did and it's humbling to contemplate and hear story after story of heroics, planning, and dealing with mishaps, which after all are part of every large operation. A lot of things went wrong on D-Day, many which stacked the deck against the Allies, but ultimately our fallen heroes tenacity and preparation won the day.