Les Plages du Debarquement de Normandie

Normandy American Cemetery

Humbling. Simply humbling. That is the only way I can describe a visit to the landing beaches on the coast of Normandy, France.  I've watched Band of Brothersand Saving Private Ryan numerous times yet neither film fully prepared me for the experience of walking over these battlefields. June 6, 1944, also known as D-Day, was a day that went down in history and during the long summer of 1944 this stretch of coastline was the scene of some of the most strategically planned yet bloody fighting our country has ever known. Today, seventy years after the fact, these same beaches, villages and fields are both eerily quiet yet filled  by tourists taking the same trek we did. Bunkers and craters mark the battlefields where bombs were once dropped, monuments paying tribute to the soldiers, sailors and airmen who made the ultimate sacrifice sit adjacent to corn fields and grazing cattle  and tastefully organized museums recount all aspects of the battles. American, British and Canadian flags fly alongside French ones in every village and signs and banners thanking the rest of the world for their freedom are as common as stop signs. The entire area pays tribute to their past and reminds us all of the horrors that can ensure should we forget where we have come from.

One could spend weeks if not months visiting and exploring the battlefields, monuments and museums of Normandy. In fact, there are so many historically significant sites in the area that our GPS looked like a field of black dots connected by a few roads. Because this was our first visit and since it was impossible to take it all in over the course of a long weekend, we chose to spend time at a few of the more famous ones along the Normandy coast. I know we missed so many worthy sites (we must go back) but those that we did see moved me in a way that few other places ever have. Nice, enjoyable and fun are not the appropriate words to describe our weekend; moving, humbling and thoughtful are.

Perhaps the best known (to Americans at least) sites are Omaha and Utah Beaches. Today they are flat sandy expanses that mask the horrors that took place seventy years ago. Here the tides ebb and flow quickly, exposing and covering the sands and reminders of the past. We saw a few brave souls swimming in the surf and many more curious waders dipping their toes into the sacred waters. (True to form, we limited ourselves to throwing a few rocks into the water from a craggy perch). There are many places you could start your visit but the Cinema Circulaire in Arromanches provides a moving and comprehensive overview of the landings and battles that took place on the shores below. Set on a hill overlooking the village of Arromanches-les-Baines, and using archival footage displayed on nine high definition screens, the cinema introduces visitors to the story of the landings by Americans at Omaha and Utah Beaches, as well as the Canadian and British landings at Gold, Juno and Sword Beaches and the entire 100 day Battle of Normandy. Both the Musee Memorial Omaha Beach and the Utah Beach Museum house relics, photographs and memorabilia that bring this period alive. Films take you back to 1944 and watching them makes you feel as though you are on the battlefields. Most of all, these museums take the war from a page in history that most of us only learned about in school and personalize it through powerful narratives that bring the battles to life.

But not all of the battle is shown from an Allied perspective. The Batterie allemande de Longues sur Mer has you walking along the remnants of the Atlantic Wall, Germany's defense barrier that protected their troops from attacking armies. Perched atop the cliffs overlooking Omaha and Gold Beaches the bunkers of Longues sur Mer provided German's with a bird's eye view of what was happening on the beachfronts below. Today concrete bunkers in various states of decline, some with their artillery still intact, dot the hills. Visitors are free to climb into and on top of the bunkers and see the same view that the Germans did seventy years ago. We visited on a crystal clear day and the serene views only made the reality of what had occurred here all the more numbing.

A German artillery bunker

And the German perspective of the beach landings

Normandy American Cemetery sitting above Omaha Beach

And last but not least, was our visit to the Normandy American Cemetery. I've visited several military cemeteries in the past, including the hallowed Arlington, but Normandy is in a class by itself. The visitors center provides visitors with a personal introduction to several of the soldiers buried on the cemetery grounds. It is these personal stories, who they were, how they lived, the families the left behind, and how they died that makes the tragedy that much more real. Then there was the cemetery. Set above the very beach where so many of those buried here lost their lives, these 172.5 acres are the final resting places for 9,387 American heros. Included in this number are 45 sets of brothers and four civilians. Marble Latin crosses and Stars of David are laid out in symmetric rows, without regard to date of death, home state or rank, for as far as the eye can see. And despite the throngs of visitors and the Congressional delegation on a fact finding mission (members of the Appropriations Committee) the cemetery had a tranquil feel. A silence hung over the area and we could wander amongst the headstones undisturbed by others. In fact, for much of our walk the only sounds were those of birds chirping and the sea crashing below us. It felt like a fitting final resting place for those whose final moments had been filled with such terror and trauma.

Then....

...... and now

Tribute at Omaha Beach

The Navy Memorial at Utah Beach

Like I said, our entire visit was a humbling experience. Today it is so easy for people to complain about what they don't have in life or how difficult they perceive things to be for them. But I challenge them to take a moment to reflect on what they do have and question if their circumstances are really that bad. For just a moment, they should put themselves in the place of the French families who lived under the Nazi occupation. Or perhaps put themselves in the shoes of the young soldiers who stormed one of the beaches or dropped from the air on D-Day. Then think about their own lives. I know I did and I walked away feeling grateful for those who fought these battles. Its humbling; simply humbling.

If you go:

Arromanches Cinema Circulaire 
Arromanches, France
(33) 02 31 06 06 45
www.arromanches360.com
Open daily
5 Euro for adults, 4 Euro for children and seniors

Musee Memorial Omaha Beach 
14710 Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer
Normandy, France
(33) 02 31 21 97 44
www.musee-memorial-omaha.com
Open daily
9 Euro for adults, reduced admission for children, seniors and active duty military members

Musee du Debarquement Utah Beach

50480 Sainte du Mont, France

(33) 02 33 71 53 35

www.utah-beach.com

Open daily

8 Euro adults, reduced admission for children and seniors

Batterie allemande de Longues sur Mer

Port en Bessin, Bayeax, France

(33) 02 31 21 46 87

www.bayeax-bessin-tourisme.com

Open daily

Free admission; charge for guided tours

Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial

14710 Colleville-sur-Mer, France

(33) 02 31 51 62 00

www.abmc.gov

Open daily

Free admission

The Mulberry Harbor Of Arromanche

The Mulberry Harbor in Arromanche, also known as Gold Beach

We've all heard about the Allied forces landing on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day. Perhaps we've seen pictures or watched movies depicting what happened on that fateful date. Or if we're really lucky, we've visited the landing beaches themselves. My family and I had the opportunity to do so this past summer and it was a truly moving and unforgettable experience. As I stood on the flat and sweeping stretches of sand where so much blood had been shed I was struck by this very geography. With dramatic tides and long stretches of sand the beaches were more impressive than any picture could ever depict. I wondered about the soldiers, sailors and their equipment who stormed these beaches. What I hadn't thought about, or even known existed, were the intricately built harbors that had been built by the British to ease the beach landings. These structures were called "Mulberry Harbors".  While the actual origin of the concept for the Mulberry Harbors is disputed what is agreed upon is that these concrete and steel structures were engineering marvels that for six months, enabled the necessary men and equipment to be efficiently brought ashore and therefore power the Allied sweep across German occupied Europe.

Gold Beach and the Mulberry remnants today

The harbors were loosely based upon the World War I German strategy of using sunken ships as jetties. In the months leading up to the D-Day invasion British engineers experimented with various designs for the proposed harbors. The design was to include a series of caissons, or water containing structures, which would create  breakwaters, piers and interconnected roadways which would be used to move equipment from ships to the nearby shore. Not only would they have to hold up to the heavy weight of the tanks and other artillery that would cross their spans, they also had to withstand the heavy sea swells that were common along the Normandy coast. The caissons would be built in England then transported across the English Channel before being reassembled on the Normandy Beaches. It was an ambitious and forward thinking plan but three days after the Allied forces landed in Normandy, two sets of Mulberry Harbors were indeed constructed.

The first, located off of the American landing spot on Omaha Beach, was quickly destroyed by a fierce Atlantic storm. The second one, constructed of 600,000 tons of concrete spread over 33 jetties and spanning a total of ten miles of floating roadways, off the coast of Arromanche, or Gold Beach, withstood the storm. Over the next eight months more than 2.5 million troops, 500,000 vehicles and 4 million tons of supplies rolled ashore along this series of jetties and roadways.

Remnants of the "harbor" today

Today all that remains of this Mulberry Harbor is a series of sea worn concrete bunkers. At low tide they sit like old cast offs on top of the sand while at high tide they are all but invisible. When the tide is low you can walk amongst them, peering inside their hollow hulks and look at their pock marked exteriors. The day we visited was cool yet sunny and a surprisingly large number of brave soles were wading then swimming amongst them as the tide rolled in. If I hadn't seen pictures of what they had looked like, it would have been hard to imagine how they were used. A visit to the nearby Arromanches Cinema Circulaire and the D-Day Museum give you a better sense of the role these novel structures played in the war effort. At the D-Day Museum you can even see a film that provides a complete history of the Mulberry Harbors. Both are well worth the visit and provide a unique insight into an important part of history that many people (Americans at least) never learned about in history class.
If you go:

Arromanches Cinema Circulaire 
Arromanches, France
(33) 02 31 06 06 45
www.arromanches360.com
Open daily
5 Euro for adults, 4 Euro for children and seniors

D-Day Museum
Place du 6 Juin
14117 Arromanches
France
(33) 02 31 22 34 31
www.arromanches-museum.com
Open daily
7.90 Euro for adults, 5.80 for children and students
Reduced rates for military members

The Other Landing: Pointe du Hoc

The very point of Pointe du Hoc

As an American, in school I learned about the World War II Battle for Normandy. We heard about the American, British, and Canadian forces storming Omaha, Utah, Sword, Gold and Juno Beaches and the heroism of those who parachuted in from above, collectively pushing the Germans back and eventually liberating Normandy. What I never heard about, and honestly didn't even know happened until recently, was the landing of U.S. Army Rangers at Pointe du Hoc, a craggy cliff face sandwiched between Omaha and Utah Beaches. The Ranger's pivotal contribution was critical in the Allie's success in Operation Overlord and how their story fits into the larger battle is well laid out at the Pointe du Hoc Memorial.

In the years and months leading up to the D-Day invasion, German forces had built a strong defense system along the French coast. Called the Atlantic Wall, this well armed defensive barrier composed of batteries and bunkers on land and underwater mines provided protection to German controlled lands and were thought to be impossible to breach.  But as history shows, that wasn't the case.

On 6 June 1944, under German fire, members of the 2nd Ranger Battalion under the command of Lieutenant Colonel James Rudder, scaled the 100 foot cliffs of Pointe du Hoc and disabled the German positions above. During the early morning hours the U.S. Naval bombardment that left those lasting craters began. In less than two hours of intense fighting, during which two landing craft and their crews were lost, American Rangers were able to reach the top of the cliffs, capture the strategic location and destroy numerous German artillery. The battle continued but the success of initial attack helped pave the way for future successes. Of the initial attacking force of 225 men however, only 90 were still able to bear arms when this portion of the battle was over on 8 June. The personal stories of those who were killed are shared in the Sacrifice Gallery that lines the exit of the memorial site.

View in the direction of Omaha Beach

Today the Memorial is operated by the American Battle Monuments Commission and visiting it is a completely hands on experience. Visitors can tour the visitors center and view an introductory film before heading out and walking over the crater pocked battlefield. Along the way you walk through the Ceremonial Circle where plaques from the French government honor the Ranger's exploits. And you pass craters; huge indentations in the earth that are a visible reminder of the bombs that were dropped on this point of land. Even seventy years later the earth is scarred. Some are enclosed by barbed wire but others are covered with rocks, crumbling dirt and worn grass. Signs warn of the dangers of climbing into them but don't explicitly forbid it. As a result visitors are able to walk down into and out of the craters. My little war-playing boy was not the only child running through them and wondering at their size. And it is their very size that makes you understand the extent and power of the bombs that were dropped. Concrete bunkers of varying sizes sit alongside the craters. Two meters of solid concrete formed the outer walls of the ten-person and twenty-person bunkers where German soldiers sought shelter and sat watch over the sea below. Three ammunition bunkers, numerous casemates, hospital and observation bunkers also fill the pock marked field. Some of the concrete structures are in near perfect condition while others have been ravaged by bombs and time. Visitors are welcomed to explore the ins and outs of these bunkers. You can walk through the rooms that were crew quarters, check out the casemates and even peer out the observation bunker and see the same view of the surrounding water and land that the occupying Germans did seventy years ago.

The granite dagger that is the Pointe du Hoc Ranger memorial sits atop another bunker at the every end of the point. It was erected by the French government then later landed over to the U.S. government in 1979 as a sign of friendship between the two nations. From this point it is possible to look up and down the coast in both directions and see the landing beaches. From this perch it is easy to see why capturing this point of land was so crucial to the success of the Allied invasion of Normandy.

Bunkers and craters for as far as the eye can see

Exploring a crater

If you go:

Pointe du Hoc Ranger Memorial
Pointe du Hoc, France
33 02 31 51 62 00
www.abmc.gov
Open daily
Free

Plages du Debarquement de Normandie

Normandy American Cemetery

Humbling. Simply humbling. That is the only way I can describe a visit to the landing beaches on the coast of Normandy, France.  I've watched Band of Brothers and Saving Private Ryan numerous times yet neither film fully prepared me for the experience of walking over these battlefields. June 6, 1944, also known as D-Day, was a day that went down in history and during the long summer of 1944 this stretch of coastline was the scene of some of the most strategically planned yet bloody fighting our country has ever known. Today, seventy years after the fact, these same beaches, villages and fields are both eerily quiet yet filled  by tourists taking the same trek we did. Bunkers and craters mark the battlefields where bombs were once dropped, monuments paying tribute to the soldiers, sailors and airmen who made the ultimate sacrifice sit adjacent to corn fields and grazing cattle  and tastefully organized museums recount all aspects of the battles. American, British and Canadian flags fly alongside French ones in every village and signs and banners thanking the rest of the world for their freedom are as common as stop signs. The entire area pays tribute to their past and reminds us all of the horrors that can ensure should we forget where we have come from.

One could spend weeks if not months visiting and exploring the battlefields, monuments and museums of Normandy. In fact, there are so many historically significant sites in the area that our GPS looked like a field of black dots connected by a few roads. Because this was our first visit and since it was impossible to take it all in over the course of a long weekend, we chose to spend time at a few of the more famous ones along the Normandy coast. I know we missed so many worthy sites (we must go back) but those that we did see moved me in a way that few other places ever have. Nice, enjoyable and fun are not the appropriate words to describe our weekend; moving, humbling and thoughtful are.

Perhaps the best known (to Americans at least) sites are Omaha and Utah Beaches. Today they are flat sandy expanses that mask the horrors that took place seventy years ago. Here the tides ebb and flow quickly, exposing and covering the sands and reminders of the past. We saw a few brave souls swimming in the surf and many more curious waders dipping their toes into the sacred waters. (True to form, we limited ourselves to throwing a few rocks into the water from a craggy perch). There are many places you could start your visit but the Cinema Circulaire in Arromanches provides a moving and comprehensive overview of the landings and battles that took place on the shores below. Set on a hill overlooking the village of Arromanches-les-Baines, and using archival footage displayed on nine high definition screens, the cinema introduces visitors to the story of the landings by Americans at Omaha and Utah Beaches, as well as the Canadian and British landings at Gold, Juno and Sword Beaches and the entire 100 day Battle of Normandy. Both the Musee Memorial Omaha Beach and the Utah Beach Museum house relics, photographs and memorabilia that bring this period alive. Films take you back to 1944 and watching them makes you feel as though you are on the battlefields. Most of all, these museums take the war from a page in history that most of us only learned about in school and personalize it through powerful narratives that bring the battles to life.

But not all of the battle is shown from an Allied perspective. The Batterie allemande de Longues sur Mer has you walking along the remnants of the Atlantic Wall, Germany's defense barrier that protected their troops from attacking armies. Perched atop the cliffs overlooking Omaha and Gold Beaches the bunkers of Longues sur Mer provided German's with a bird's eye view of what was happening on the beachfronts below. Today concrete bunkers in various states of decline, some with their artillery still intact, dot the hills. Visitors are free to climb into and on top of the bunkers and see the same view that the Germans did seventy years ago. We visited on a crystal clear day and the serene views only made the reality of what had occurred here all the more numbing.

A German artillery bunker

And the German perspective of the beach landings

Normandy American Cemetery sitting above Omaha Beach

And last but not least, was our visit to the Normandy American Cemetery. I've visited several military cemeteries in the past, including the hallowed Arlington, but Normandy is in a class by itself. The visitors center provides visitors with a personal introduction to several of the soldiers buried on the cemetery grounds. It is these personal stories, who they were, how they lived, the families the left behind, and how they died that makes the tragedy that much more real. Then there was the cemetery. Set above the very beach where so many of those buried here lost their lives, these 172.5 acres are the final resting places for 9,387 American heros. Included in this number are 45 sets of brothers and four civilians. Marble Latin crosses and Stars of David are laid out in symmetric rows, without regard to date of death, home state or rank, for as far as the eye can see. And despite the throngs of visitors and the Congressional delegation on a fact finding mission (members of the Appropriations Committee) the cemetery had a tranquil feel. A silence hung over the area and we could wander amongst the headstones undisturbed by others. In fact, for much of our walk the only sounds were those of birds chirping and the sea crashing below us. It felt like a fitting final resting place for those whose final moments had been filled with such terror and trauma.

Then....

...... and now

Tribute at Omaha Beach

The Navy Memorial at Utah Beach

Like I said, our entire visit was a humbling experience. Today it is so easy for people to complain about what they don't have in life or how difficult they perceive things to be for them. But I challenge them to take a moment to reflect on what they do have and question if their circumstances are really that bad. For just a moment, they should put themselves in the place of the French families who lived under the Nazi occupation. Or perhaps put themselves in the shoes of the young soldiers who stormed one of the beaches or dropped from the air on D-Day. Then think about their own lives. I know I did and I walked away feeling grateful for those who fought these battles. Its humbling; simply humbling.

If you go:

Arromanches Cinema Circulaire 
Arromanches, France
(33) 02 31 06 06 45
www.arromanches360.com
Open daily
5 Euro for adults, 4 Euro for children and seniors

Musee Memorial Omaha Beach 
14710 Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer
Normandy, France
(33) 02 31 21 97 44
www.musee-memorial-omaha.com
Open daily
9 Euro for adults, reduced admission for children, seniors and active duty military members

Musee du Debarquement Utah Beach

50480 Sainte du Mont, France

(33) 02 33 71 53 35

www.utah-beach.com

Open daily

8 Euro adults, reduced admission for children and seniors

Batterie allemande de Longues sur Mer

Port en Bessin, Bayeax, France

(33) 02 31 21 46 87

www.bayeax-bessin-tourisme.com

Open daily

Free admission; charge for guided tours

Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial

14710 Colleville-sur-Mer, France

(33) 02 31 51 62 00

www.abmc.gov

Open daily

Free admission