To tie up our last day in Normandy we headed out to take a tour of several American memorials as well as and Omaha beach. It was another beautiful sunny day – we haven’t had many on this trip so everyone is soaking it up.
Our first stop of the day was the La Cambe cemetery where there are nearly 13,000 German soldiers buried. The sun was streaming through the light fog layer over the grounds and it made for an incredible sight. I would attach pictures from our visit however European wifi can’t seem to handle that task unfortunately.
After the cemetery we jetted over to Point du Hoc. This is a cliff point that protrudes out into the ocean where the Germans had a strong series of bunkers built. Point du Hoc was scaled by American troopers as part of the D-Day plan. There were two main munitions bunkers that were supposed to contain artillery guns but they were filled with wood on D-Day and served as a decoy. All of the concrete buildings are mostly in ruins today but we were able to walk through a completely intact bunker which was incredible.
Our third stop today was Omaha beach where our tour guide, Sean, told us stories of the perils on the morning of D-Day. Omaha beach seems deceptive in present day because of its beauty. There’s a memorial built recently that depicts two American soldiers arriving on D-Day. The view there was breathtaking, especially keeping in mind the history of that location.
The last memorial of the day was my favorite experience of the trip. Our tour guide took us to the Normandy American Cemetery where about 9,500 soldiers are buried. Each soldier is represented by a white stone cross or the Star of David if they were Jewish. The expansive area was haunting to walk through with the dark rolling clouds in the distance and the seemingly infinite white crosses stretching across the field. As we walked out, we were able to watch the American flag being lowered with Taps playing in the background. This was a perfect end to this trip because I think everyone could relate to what we learned in the past few days; Americans our age fighting for our freedom.
The experiences of these past three weeks have been stellar – I wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world. Who could ever dream of having the opportunity to stand in a German bunker used on D-Day or walk through a concentration camp.
Tomorrow we leave our hotel at 7am to embark on our crazy journey back home. Say a prayer for us as we battle with the strikes of good ol’ air traffic control in Paris. We have been told that our flight won’t be affected which is good news. Thanks again for coming on this journey with us – it’s been a memorable one!
