The names of each solider are inscribed on the white marble walls.
In the hot summer of June 1944, the most decisive event of WWII began on the shores of Northern France. It was the turning point of the war in the European theater: D-Day.
My father served in the Pacific as a Naval aviator on a torpedo Bomber/TBM, flying off the USS Hancock from October 1944 until early 1945. He only talked about his WWII experiences once, but he wrote a journal while stationed on the Hancock, filled with details of those dangerous and trying days.
My generation – I’m in my early 70s and a proud Baby Boomer – grew up knowing about WWII, and in my extensive travel I have been alert to ways around the globe to learn more: in Europe, Morocco, India, Japan and South America. But nothing can tell the story like standing on the beaches of Normandy, seeing the concrete gunners’ pillboxes, the steep cliffs and the hundreds and hundreds of white crosses and Stars of David that fill sloping green hills.
Long on my “bucket list,” a visit to these hallowed places finally happened in August. Rick and I headed to France for much more than I expected. The images still fill my head.
Exterior construction is ongoing to complete the restoration of Our Lady Cathedral, aka Notre Dame.
Flying into Paris a couple of days early for our Grand Circle Travel riverboat cruise, we visited the highlights of the City of Lights, including the recently re-opened Notre Dame Cathedral – we outfoxed the long lines! – Jim Morrison’s grave in Pere Lachaise Cemetery, my favorite Ste. Chapelle Chapel in the Department of Justice Complex and other familiar and not-so-familiar sites.
Paris was not our objective, except for seeing Notre Dame in all its restored glory. We were ready to begin our real adventure: The Beaches of Normandy on our 140-passenger riverboat.
The journey took us down the Seine toward the coast with stops along the way, including Giverny, the home of Claude Monet, and Rouen, where the martyr Joan of Arc is extensively honored with statues and a modern church.
As we drew closer to the coast my excitement increased. We would be walking on the ground where nearly 30,000 US soldiers died during the three-month campaign that began with D-Day and continued to late August.
We learned about the physical challenges that complicated the landings and approaches inland: the rough seas that restricted landing craft and troops from their missions and the high winds that foiled planned parachute landing behind the lines scaling the 330-foot-tall cliffs to scale after traversing about 300 yards of beach under attack in full combat gear, and hacking through hedgerow after hedgerow of tall thick thorny bushes that had served as fences for farmlands.
Large memorial on Normandy Beach.
High tide on Omaha Beach – one of the five beaches where allied troops, including Canadians, British and smaller groups of troops made their assaults – prevented us for having the full effect of the shear distance across the sand and seas. The massive modern stainless-steel monument stood with at least a foot of water at its base.
None the less, I was there. But there was more.
Nowhere did the impact of the D-Day Invasion and the subsequent Battle of Normandy feel more heart wrenching and sobering than at the Normandy American Military Cemetery. Located on 172.5 acres along the shoreline of the sea, it contains the graves of 9,389 American military dead. White crosses and those with Stars of David mark each grave for almost as far as you could see. Each bore the name of a soldier. Occasional American flags or small bunches of flowers punctuated the green grass spaces between the stark white markers.
A small section of the cemetery where up to 2 million visitors per year come to pay their respects.
As I wandered along the paved walkways and down to the ocean overlook, my surroundings looked peaceful and serene, the white crosses behind me a grim reminder of the tragedy that brought these solders to their final resting places.
In the Normandy region, there are nearly 25 museums to commemorate aspects of D-Day and WWII. Our 2-day stay there provided a birds-eye overview with the addition of a visit to the Peace Museum in Caen where we spent several hours exploring on our own, viewing film footage and photographs of the battles and attacks, hearing the voices of those who were there, and digging into the campaign maps and other artifacts. A comprehensive immersive 19-minute 360-degree film captures the tensions leading up to WWI and WWII from the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914 through the rise to power of the Nazis and into WWII.
Remnants of German Bunkers on the cliffs overlooking the sea.
As we returned home, my mind was filled with satisfied expectations, many more questions and the desire to return on my own. My 13-day trip was merely a toe dipped in the water of all that can be explored in this part of France.
However, we Americans have one of the largest and most comprehensive WWII museums in the world: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans. My visit there five years ago further opened my eyes to the stories, challenges and triumphs of war. Built on six city blocks in the Arts/Warehouse District in six modern buildings, it tells the story of the war from the American/Homefront point of view with insights from everyday people, how the country eventually rallied and how our allies contributed.
Go there. Plan to spend at least three days there so that you can visit it in at your own pace and intersperse some typical New Orleans sites as well. If a trip to Normandy isn’t in your future, consider The National World War II Museum: www.nationalww2museum.org.
Photos: by Pamela A. Keene
