Day 5  Normandy Beaches and back to Rouen

After breakfast on the boat, we loaded buses at 8:00 a.m. for a trip to the Normandy Beaches.  This was about a 2-hour ride through rolling hills and agricultural land.  We saw fields of wheat, sugar beets, canola, corn, soybeans, and hay that had been cut and baled.  The agriculture looked modern; we saw tractors of various sizes, combines, and balers.  Some of the rural houses looked old, but many were newer and some had features such as solar collectors.  We passed through Caens, which is a fairly major city with factories and businesses.



We arrived at Juno Beach late in the morning.   Juno Beach is the principle location where British troops landed in France.  At Juno Beach, after D-Day, the British built a harbor to facilitate troop and equipment landing.  The harbor was built with sunken ships (old ships sank on purpose at strategic locations) and concrete structures that were floated from England and placed across the water to enclose a section of the coastline so that landing could take place protected from the waves and currents of the English Channel.  In addition, floating bridges were built from the shore out to where ships could unload.  We could see remnants of the harbor still in place.  There was also a museum that explained with exhibits and films how the harbor was envisioned, constructed, and used to help the Allied forces succeed in the war.  Following our tour of the museum and the beach, we had lunch in the town of Arromanches adjacent to the museum.  This was our first time to have a meal off the boat, so theoretically, this was our first exposure to real French food.  It was chicken (with a sauce), green beans, and potatoes, with a chocolate mousse for dessert.

Allied Countries involved in D-Day

Remnants of Harbor built at Juno Beach after D-Day (British)

German Bunker on Hill overlooking Juno Beach

Next we drove to the Omaha Beach American Cemetery.  Here, a Memorial has been built to honor the Americans who died on Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944.  The Memorial lists the names of all of those who died, has maps that illustrate how the battle was waged, and has a memorial statue to represent the valor of those who fought and died.  The Memorial opens onto the American Military Cemetery where those who died were buried.  Rows and rows of crosses or stars define the graves.  At the Memorial, we were part of a ceremony to honor those who died -- we sang the Star Spangled Banner, listened to Taps, Recognized the Veterans in our group, and observed a moment of silence.  Following the ceremony, each of us was given a rose to place on a grave.  We searched for an Oklahoman's grave and found one, where we placed one of our roses.  We placed the other on a grave marked "Known only to God."  The ceremony, the cemetery, and placing flowers on the graves reminded us of the sacrifices that Americans have made throughout our history and especially in World War II to protect freedom in our country and around the world.  We looked around the cemetery, especially down the hill to Omaha Beach.  The cemetery and the beach were beautiful, but the setting reminded us that a battle that had been fought there and lives had been lost or changed forever.

After the cemetery, we drove to Omaha Beach, where we walked along the beach thinking of the battle.  There is another statue on the beach to honor those who died there.  We were told that most of the time, the beach is deserted, but on this sunny and hot day, the beach was full of people enjoying the beach just as at any other beach.

Omaha Beach

We drove the two hours back to our boat at Rouen, had dinner, and rested after a long day.