18 July 22: An exhausting, emotional, and educational day. We visited 8 sites throughout the Utah and Omaha Beach areas, painting a story of the American forces’ role in Operation Overlord. Once we got >1 km from the coastline — such as in La Cambe and Carentan — the heat became somewhat debilitating. Because of this we decided to forgo the Maisy Battery in Grandcamp Maisy.
1.) Major Richard Winters Memorial, Ste-Marie-du-Mont
Major Richard Winters memorial, built in 2012, the year after he died.
2.) Easy Company Memorial, Brécourt Manor, Ste-Marie-du-Mont
Easy Company, 506 PIR Memorial, on the northeast corner of Brècourt Manor. The memorial includes a placard that reminds guests that Brècourt Manor is a private property — I guess folks were walking all over the grounds…
3.) Utah Beach Memorials, Ste. Marie
Utah Beach does a good job recognizing the roles the Navy and Coast Guard had in Operation Overlord. IMHO, schools don’t seem to spend as much time on that part.There were a number of memorials to visit along Utah Beach.
4.) Lunch in the town of Carentan, walked the center of town
This memorial was erected in Carentan after WWI. You can see this statue in many photos of the 101st ABN liberating the town, such as the one I’ll drop in the comments.Carentan is really beautiful to see. However, we struggled to find a restaurant that served other than pizza, so we found a sandwich shop in a Walmart-like store called e.LeClerc. The 4 of us got sandwiches, salads, pastry, and a drink for €6,25 each. So much food!!
5.) Cimetière Allemand (German War Cemetery), Le Cambe
The German cemetery. 21,000 soldiers interred here. A very different look and feel compared to the American cemetery. Darker. Less regal. It’s clean and well-kept, just very different than what one sees at the American cemetery.
The visitor center is very nice though. Everything in French, German, and English.A big difference between the German cemetery and the American one is that the German headstones included the dates of birth, and you get a feel for how young these combatants were.
6.) Pointe du Hoc Memorial
The experience at Pointe du Hoc was very lovely. We didn’t go into the visitor center, but the interpretive trail did a very nice job also.Imagine the 2nd Rangers having to make their way up these cliffs…Pointe du Hoc selfie!We were treated to a flyover at Pointe du Hoc — a pair of (what I think were) Rafales flew right over us!
7.) Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, Colleville-Sur-Mer
The Memorial at the American cemetery. I can’t get over how gorgeous the memorial is, and how beautiful the grounds are.OMG THE MAPS!!
They’re built into the memorial. True works of art! We spent a lot of time in front of these maps discussing the movements and the terrain the combatants faced. This warmed my heart so much.
8.) Omaha Beach Memorials, Les Moulins
Our last stop of the day…at about 6pm…was Omaha Beach itself. It’s now a true leisure beach, which sat a bit funny with all 4 of us (especially Tim).
But I guess one could argue that the Allies fought for France to have the freedom to make it a leisure beach. There are cordons in the water beyond which they claim there might still be remnants of the battle.A sculpture titled “The Brave”. Folks were setting up in the shadows of the spires.The 2d ID Omaha Beach memorial.Along the row of houses behind us is the original AirBnB beach house I wanted to reserve. The owner only rented for full weeks in the summer so we had to pass.
Blessing in disguise. The road that house sits on is insanely busy…and the kids ended up pretty skittish about this area being used for beach vacations anyway. We are very happy with our choice in the smaller, less-known town.Dinner back in Port-en-Bessin. We tried Affligem beer, a Belgian beer on tap at all the bars in town.We keep gravitating towards these grilled baguette sandwiches. I had one with gyro meat and it was so good!
But OMG I’m having French bread with every meal. I can’t do that this whole trip!!!Dave and I hiked out to the end of one of the jetties and I got a nice photo of where we’re staying.8:45pm. During low tide (if only you could smell this photo…)
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