I have so many wonderful pictures that I don't know where to begin.
I'll begin with breakfast which was delicious and such a lovely setting.
Our tour guide picked us up at 8:30 and off we went.
Our first stop was Arromanches at Gold Beach.
What is left of the artificial harbor. that was built here.
At Gold Beach with the cliffs behind us.
A German gun battery in Longues-sur-Mer.
This is the only gun battery to be listed as a Historic Monument.
There are four reinforced concrete pillboxes each housing long range 150mm artillery gun.
Longues-sur-Mer Battery command post.
The divots are places where they would put dirt and plant grass to give it more camouflage.
Our first stop was the American cemetery at Colleville-Sur-Mer which contains the graves of 9,387 soldiers.
Our guide told us several stories of some of the people buried here. It was very moving.
We stopped to see a couple of tanks along the way.
We traveled to Pointe du Hoc next.
Omaha Beach 116th Regimental Combat Team Memorial.
La Pointe du Hoc 155 mm gun.
A blockhouse on Pointe du Hoc. Almost 2000 cubic feet of concrete and 40 tons of metal framework were used to construct this.
The remains of a gun pit.
Pointe du Hoc is one of the few sites that remains speckled with many bomb craters.
Pointe du Hoc is a 100 foot cliff that overlooks the English Channel. It is one of the highest cliffs between Utah beach and Omaha beach. The German army fortified the area with concrete casements and gun pits. On D-day the United States Army Ranger Assault Group assaulted and captured Pointe du Hoc after scaling the cliffs.
The Pointe du Hoc Ranger Memorial
The cliffs at Pointe du Hoc
Utah beach was our next stop.
This is in front of the Higgins boat showing the men getting off the boat on to the shore.
I'd been looking for a Czech Hedgehog to take a picture of. We had passed several but it wasn't a good time to stop so I was glad to find this at Utah beach.
We went down to the beach and our guide drew a picture in the sand of the invasion here. I could not believe how far out the water goes at low tide. It was amazing.
Another view of the beach.
The U.S. Navy Monument.
The 1st Engineer Special Brigade Monument
The 90th Infantry Monument
Our next stop at Utah Beach was Sainte-Mere-Eglise. This church has a fastening story about the paratrooper John Steele.
The mannequin represents John Steele with his parachute caught on the church bell tower.
Inside the church is a beautiful stained glass window depicting the landing of the paratroopers.
Angoville au Plain
This church was used by two U.S. Army medics as an aide station during World War II. Robert Wright and Ken Moore from the 101st Airborne Division treated a mix of 80 American and German wounded soldiers and a child.
These two stained glass windows commemorate the 101st Airborne Division. The first honoring American parachutists and the second one is dedicated to the two medics.
A memorial marker for the two and those they cared for.
Our last stop was to the German Military Cemetery at La Cambe.
Over 21,200 bodies, most of them in pairs, lie here between crosses made from lava rock.
A very different look and feel to this cemetery compared to the American cemetery.
There are many more pictures and more stories than I can remember, but this was a wonderful and interesting day.
Our fabulous guide Florin Petre, from Romania, obviously loved the history of Normandy and recounted numerous stories and details of those events.
I believe you could spend days here discovering different places and seeing many things. We just touched the surface.
I was so tired and there was so much detail from yesterday that I couldn't finish up the blog until tonight. I will try to catch up tomorrow.
Thank you to those who served and died in this place. Our freedom is not free.
Thank you Jim for posting the pictures of Normandy
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