Friday, April 15, 2011

April 15th Normandy and the D-Day Beaches

We started the day in the day at The Normandy American Cemetery at St.-Laurent, France.  It is a very moving experience to see thousands of graves of young Americans, who gave their lives for their country, in just a few days.  We found the grave of Nonette's uncle, James B. Mayes, in Section A,     row 15, grave 18.  We spent the rest of the day driving down highway D514, through villages right on the coast where the D-Day invasion took place.  We saw the beaches where the Americans came ashore, the German's bunkers and gun emplacements above the beaches.  Our guys were really sitting ducks.  When you see how beautiful the setting is today, it is hard to imagine how terrifying it must have been for our Soldiers on June 6, 1944.  Here are a few pictures of what we saw today.

NONETTE' UNCLE'S HEADSTONE


A GREAT COMPANION IN FRANCE


OMAHA BEACH


A BUNKER FOR A CANNON POINTED DOWN OMAHA BEACH


A CANNON BUNKER BEHIND THE BEACH


A FORWARD OBSERVATION BUNKER ABOVE THE BEACH


THE SAME BUNKER FROM BEHIND


LOOKING DOWN ANOTHER INVASION BEACH


THE BARGES IN THE DISTANCE WERE SUNK TO CREATE A HARBOR TO
UNLOAD WAR MATERIALS FOR THE ALLIES


A VILLAGE OVERLOOKING THAT HARBOR


A VILLAGE WE PASSED IN NORMANDY


THE DOOR OF THE CHURCH IN THAT VILLAGE


GRAVES IN THE CEMETERY OF THAT CHURCH


ONE OF MANY FIELDS OF PLANTS WITH YELLOW FLOWERS


ANOTHER VILLAGE CLOSE TO AN INVASION BEACH


IN FRENCH EGG MAC MUFFIN IS EGG MAC MUFFIN


MORE TOMORROW FROM THE ISLAND CATHEDRAL OF MONT SAINT MICHEL
























4 comments:

  1. Wow! What an incredible adventure. Thanks for taking us along!

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  2. Wonderful pictures! Keep up the good work!!

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  3. So envious!! Keep sending pictures and have a great time!!

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  4. What a wonderful adventure. Thank you so much for the pictures.

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