A somber and sobering day. There are no words to express the courage, sacrifice and valor that young men, many still teenagers, exhibited on the beaches of Normandy almost 71 years ago. The entire Operation Overlord boggles the mind--the planning, execution, luck, improvisation, skill. It's one thing to watch a war movie or read a book about the landing, but to actually be on the beaches, to look down from the German bunkers and to hear from the people who were there brings a sense of incredulity to the entire effort.
Our day began in the sleepy seaside village of Arromanches, site of one of the greatest enginneering feats of all time. Within three weeks of June 6, 1944, an entire port was assembled off shore in the English Channel, allowing critical supplies to quickly reach the front lines. Without this impossible effort, the entire race to Berlin would have bogged down and who knows what the human cost would have been.
The American Cemetary at Omaha Beach was our next stop. Sadly, I didn't have enough time to see everything, specifically the beach. Standing to view the 9,387 grave markers with the English Channel in the background chills the soul. The French people were awestruck that these young men would offer the ultimate sacrifice so far away from home for people they didn't even know. It was heartwarming to see so many French school children there to maintain the bond with America built on the blood of so many.
Pointe du Hoc was our final destination. A stategic point with sweeping views of the English Channel, this was a key objective of the Army Rangers on D-Day. To see the cliffs the Rangers had to scale with Germans shooting down at them, puts the exploits of the Rangers in the "beyond belief" category. 225 men started the assault. Two and a half days later, only 90 were still able to fight. A strong wind whipped as we walked the path and viewed the bomb craters left from the allied effort to soften this target. We stood in the German observation bunkers and saw their gun implacements. Heroic effort doesn't begin to describe what happened here.
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