One of the things that was very important for me to accomplish and see during my time here
in France was to tour and experience the D-Day beaches of Normandy. I attribute this interest
partly due to touristic curiosity but more to patriotic sentimentalism, as the feat that
the Allies accomplished that day remains a marvel and a source of pride even to this day. Thus,
I signed up for a day trip from Paris, and since Aaron also shared this interest, he too
signed up for the tour. Here below are some of the highlights from that memorable day:
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| Our first stop was the Caen Memorial Peace Museum, a museum that believes that to fostering peace, we must remember the violent past. Thus, the expositions we saw in this museum concerned principally World War II and D-Day, but also paid tribute to the Cold War and Human Rights campaigns. |
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| Point du Hoc: the site between Utah and Omaha Beach at which the Army Ranger Assault Group assaulted and captured this German command post after scaling its tall cliffs. The holes you see in the terrain were created by bombs and aerial attacks. |
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| If you can believe it, we experienced similar weather conditions that the Allies experienced on June 6, 1944! It was rainy, cold, and winds were whipping 80 km/hour! |
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| One of the larger bomb craters |
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| The Point du Huc Memorial Statue. |
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| Inside the German command center |
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| Some facts and numbers. |
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| After Point du Hoc, we spent a little bit of time at the most notorious beach of Normandy: Omaha Beach. Given that little to no artifacts from the day remain on this beach, it was up to you to picture and remember what happened on that day, or else, it would just appear as just another pretty beach. Fortunately, our tour guide was able to give us some facts and information about this site to make us really appreciate what was accomplished during this campaign. |
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| The Omaha Beach Memorial Statue |
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| The American Cemetery of Normandy |
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| An incredibly beautiful, yet harrowing place to visit |
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| Remembering one of the men that gave his life for France's, the Allies', and frankly, the world's freedom from the Nazi regime. |
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| Visiting Juno Beach, the site at which the Canadian army secured the beach, cut the Caen-Bayeux road, seized the Carpiquet airport west of Caen, and form a link between the two British beaches of Gold and Sword on either side of Juno Beach |
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| The Juno Beach Memorial |
