France 2.0: Friday, April 15, 2011

Today we are going to Normandy and Omaha Beach. We will stay in Rouen tonight. We boarded the bus at 8:00, and everyone was really, really dragging. Fortunately the bus ride to Pointe du Hoc, the first stop, is about four hours long. We hadn't been on the bus more than a half hour and every single soul, except the driver, was asleep.


Pound du Hoc is a spot on the English Channel where a group of Army Rangers scaled a 100 foot cliff to disable German guns threatening Omaha and Utah Beaches as part of the massive assault on the Normandy coastline on June 6, 1944. The Ranger force numbered 225 at the beginning of the attack. Only 90 survived. The French have erected and preserved a wonderful memorial to the American Rangers. Even the original bomb craters have been preserved.





Next stop is Omaha Beach, one of the D-Day landing sites. There is a beautiful piece of sculpture there to honor the soldiers.


We lunched in Arromanches, which is also located on the English Channel. The liberating forces used this village to establish a temporary harbor to move troops and supplies.

After lunch, we visited the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial. These 173 acres are on soil granted to the Americans by the French. There are 9,387 headstones located there as well as 1,557 names listed as missing in action. The cemetery overlooks Omaha Beach.





Tonight we stay in Rouen. Then its on to Paris tomorrow for two final days in France. We fly home on Monday.


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