A Humbling Visit to Normandy and Omaha Beach

House-sized craters are still very evident throughout the grounds that our guide, Adrien, walked us through using the various gravel paths that led out to Point du Hoc, the strategic high ground along the coast used by the Germans in June, 1944. It is here that they placed their battery of guns that would be within easy range of the beaches at Omaha and Utah and the U.S. soldiers that would soon be landing there on D-Day.  

These artillery pieces survived the U.S. bombing of the coast, leaving the task of their destruction to a team of Army Rangers who had to first scale the cliffs from the shoreline up to the position where we were now standing. Grappling hooks attached to ropes were shot skyward by grenade launching-type weapons. They learned quickly that they underestimated the force needed by these weapons to launch the unanticipated added weight of the now seawater-soaked ropes.

DUKW boats were called toward shore. On them were ladders the U.S. Army borrowed from London fire departments. The Rangers hauled the ladders up to where the grappling hooks stopped and from there ascended to the top of the cliffs to engage the Germans. Pill boxes, bunkers, and many other fortifications had to be breached to wipe out the enemy and their artillery pieces.

One of many craters

Adrien then took us and our fellow tourists directly to Omaha Beach where he parked the van. The tide was in, hiding the expanse of sand otherwise exposed during low tide. On June 6, a high tide would have hidden the various impediments and mines from those on the boats making their assault on the beach. So, the invasion had to be timed with the area’s low tides. There are yellow buoys marking how far out the waters recede during low tide so that visitors can have a visual of how far the Allied soldiers had to traverse, without cover from the unending machine gun fire, to the relative safety of the natural beach-head.

Look closely near the horizon. You can see yellow buoys where the beach begins during low tide

We walked along what little sand was exposed. It was sobering to think that the waters that now lapped at our feet once ran red from the blood of fallen soldiers nearly 75 years ago.

Back in the van, I mentioned that I found it somewhat sacrilegious that this hallowed ground was now being used by sunbathers, surfers, and vendors selling coffee, snacks, and ice cream cones. Others in the van seemed to agree.

Adrien said that many locals, while acknowledging the need to commemorate the D-Day invasion, also want to show that a rebuilding from the war’s destruction was a necessary way of showing they will not be permanently defeated.

By way of other examples, Adrien mentioned how many Normandy cities (Caen, Caretan, and many others) were virtually erased from the map due to bombing and battles and which have since been rebuilt into modern-day thriving communities. Bayeux, where we are staying, was not considered a strategic location and, as such, was not bombed nor destroyed. Many of its medieval buildings and its landmark gothic cathedral still stand.

A before and after picture of what happened
to one of the Normandy villages during the war

Bayeux and its gothic cathedral survived the war largely intact

Adrien shared that a village and its surrounding areas where his grandparents once farmed was one that was not spared by the ruins of war. He recounted a story he said his parents have to tell him since he was too young to remember. He was a toddler playing and digging in his grandparents’ garden back in the mid-1990s. He un-earthed a WW II hand grenade with its pin still intact. He walked into the house to show off his find and proudly placed it on the kitchen table in front of his parents and grandparents. Horrified, the grandfather calmly gathered it up and replaced it out in the garden, this time a fair distance from the house, while the grandmother called the gendarmes.

After they took the grenade away, the family didn’t think much of it until a couple of weeks later. The authorities called to tell the family that the grenade was so fragile that they couldn’t safely diffuse it. Instead, they had to detonate it out in a remote bomb disposal facility. Obviously, they said, the family and, in particular, Adrien, were very lucky. But that reality escaped the still-too-young Adrien, his mother told him. Apparently, he was still upset that the policemen who are supposed to be friendly took away from him what he thought was a valuable buried treasure.

This story ended as we pulled into a parking area serving the American Cemetery. Second only to Arlington outside of Washington, D.C., this cemetery is the most visited of all American cemeteries throughout the world.

A rush of emotion filled me when I passed the entry memorial and first saw the row after row of white marble crosses all perfectly aligned and spaced. They were within a setting of green, well-manicured grass and neatly trimmed trees, all back-dropped by the ocean from where these men had arrived. In total, there are over 9,000 dead buried here from the fighting on D-Day and other battles throughout the Normandy campaign. And this represents only forty percent of the total numbers that were killed. Given the option, the majority of the surviving family members chose to have the remains of their loved ones returned to them to be interred in cemeteries or private family plots back in the U.S.

As dusk approached, the Cemetery staff ceremoniously lowered the U.S. flags for the evening. In the background, a bugle played taps. There was not a dry eye amongst all of us who had gathered to watch and reflect on the great sacrifice that was made by these brave and fearless men. 

In this day and age, we need reminding of what has made our country so great. All Americans, regardless of background or belief, should visit here at least once in their lives.