Then we changed our mind and decided to go.
Then we changed it again and decided to stay put.
Fortunately, we changed our minds one more time (for good) and decided to do a one day blitz-tour of the D-Day sites. We rented two cars and left Paris at 8:30 am. The first D-Day site is about a three hour drive from Paris, so we planned to be there by 11:30. An hour traffic jam on the Periferique, the freeway ring that circles Paris, put us at our first site an hour late.
Again, we consulted Rick (we're on a first name basis now), and chose to see things in his recommended sequence, starting with the tiny town of Arromanches, which boasts two great things to see: a panaromic, 360-degree theater, in which the audience stands in the middle of a room surrounded by 9 curved screens forming a circle, displaying footage from the D-Day landings, scenes of battle, the voices of Hitler, Churchill, and FDR, and some great music to stir the emotions. This 20-minute movie is a must, and a great way to set the tone for the day. The theater is perched atop the cliffs overlooking "Port Winston," the bay in the town of Arromanches named after Winston Churchill, whose brainchild it wast to build a temporary harbor through which allied forces could ship men, equipment, and supplies. You'll be amazed at how they constructed this artificial harbor. On June 7 (a day after they successfully won this beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944), 17 old ships sailed 90 miles across the channel from England, only to be sunk with each ship's bow facing another ship's stern to form a sea barrier. Then, 500 tug boast pulled 115 football-field sized concrete blocks across the channel. These were also sunk, forming a four-mile long breakwater. Within a week they had a harbor that would allow the transport of 54,000 vehicles, 326,000 troops, and 110,000 tons of good (Rick Steves, France).
The group in front of a tank at Port Winston
Notice the remnants of the D-Day port in the background.
Kids playing at Port Winston
Jeffrey and I in front of one of the landing craft that carried 36 men, huddled together like sardines,
across the channel and onto the beaches. No, I am not pregnant, nor do I have an alien protruding from my stomach.
That is my money pouch.
From Arromanches, we headed toward the American Cemetery and Omaha beach, but on the way stopped to see a German Gun Battery. These three structures housed massive guns that took at least thee soliders to operate, and that were part of Hitler's Atlantic wall defense the protected the west coast of Europe from Allied invasion. These guns could fire up to 12 miles away. They were heavily camouflaged, and even though the Allies tried carpet bombed this area, very few guns were taken out by the blasts. The concrete reinforced bunkers that housed these guns required a direct it to collapse. With 1944-technology, this was difficult.
We then made it to our last destination, the American Cemetery and Omaha Beach, by about 4:00 p.m. This is a must for any visit to the D-Day beaches. Doing Normandy and not coming here is like going to Paris and not seeing the Eiffel Tower--although, the visit to this site is a much more reverent, soul-stirring experience. The cemetery is the final resting place for nearly 10,000 Americans who died on a foreign soul to liberate a people they didn't know. At the cemetery is a fabulous visitor's center that should not be missed, including a 20-minute film that not only discusses elements of the landing at Omaha Beach, but tells the story of four men who died here. You here from their mothers, wives, and children. You learn about their lives before they were called to fight, and what their deaths meant for those they left behind. Powerful stuff.
The cemetery sits on a bluff above Omaha Beach, the bloodiest and most costly of all D-Day beaches in terms of human life. We lost 4,000 men on June 6 there alone, many of whom died before they even made it to shore; some of which drowned after being injured, sea-sick, disoriented, and weighed down with a 70-lb pack. For many, this was their first live action in the war. And for 4,000, this was their last.
Daphne and Coleman at the Visitor's Center at the American Cemetery.
American Cemetery
Emma and Dad among the crosses.
Jewish soldiers are memorialized not by a cross for a tombstone but rather the Star of David.
Emma and Mom among the crosses
- France: 516,000 (of which 350,000 were civilians)
- Germany: 9,000,000 (3,500,000 civilians)
- Japan: 3,100,000 (1,000,000 civilians)
- England: 450,000 (70,000 civilians)
- United States: 418,000 (1,700 civilians)
- Soviet Union: 30,000,000 (20,000,000 were civilians)
Staggering. We Americans often pin our noses at the "cowardly" French, who quickly surrendered to German forces in 1940. I stopped doing that when I realized why they did. Just a mere twenty years earlier in World War I, France had lost 25% of its population of men between 18 and 30 to warfare. As in one out of every four youg men. Brutal. They lost 1.7 million people during World War I, the highest by far of any European nation. At the battle of Verdun, they lost 377,000 (that's 260,000 more than the US lost in the entire war). By the time 1940 came around and German air and ground superiority was the strongest in the world, France decided to wait this one out. And they still lost 500,000 people. Am I defending the French? No (and I still think Charles De Gualle is a jerk). But I can understand why they weren't in the mood to fight a battle that they probably couldn't have won (on their own--which they were at the time), only to have lost millions in the process.
Fortunately, England didn't surrender, or the European continent would have been nearly impossible to liberate if the Allies wouldn't have had England to use as a jumping-off point. And while it's true that the Churchill-lead British displayed amazing courage, fortitude and will in withstanding the German onslaught in the Battle of Britain, the English also had the ocean as their greatest protector. The French didn't have that luxury. They were vulnerable on all sides of their borders form the mighty German force.
Before I get back to Normandy, let me also say this: we Americans take great pride in having liberated France from Nazi Germany--as we should. They can't thank us enough. Without US involvement, who knows: Nazi Flags might still waive from the Arc de Triomphe. And we're disgusted whenever they disagree with our current foreign policy and we love to talk about the "ungrateful French." Yet how many Americans remember that it was the French who helped tipped the scales in the American Revolution, not just in terms of arms and money, but by 1778 in terms of manpower, armies, and ships. Their involvement in our war came at a steep price to the French, as it contributed to sinking their country into massive debt and in ruining their economy (of course, Louis XVI's penchant for spending money on himself didn't help matters on the front either).
Most Americans also don't know that the Dutch and Spanish proved to be pivotal in the revolutionary war. Without help from the European continent, the USA might still be the largest territory of the British Commonwealth. So, yeah, we should be proud that we helped saved Europe from Nazi tyranny but we also need to remember what our European neighbors have done for us.
Sorry for the lecture. Back to D-Day.
After we strolled quietly through the cemetery, Jeffrey, Coleman and Daphne headed for Omaha Beach which lay just below the cemetery. This was perhaps the highlight of their D-Day experience. We watched from above, as it's quite a treck from the cemetery down to the beach.
The tide was low, and we could still see metal structures protruding from the water--remnants of Nazi fortifications that one lined this beach.
Emma and Sam above Omaha Beach
By 6:00 p.m. our visit came to an obligatory end, as they prod (quite forcefully I might add) and lock the gates and send the tourists home. Such a thing is typical for France (and most of Europe). Closing time means closing time, and don't ever try to enter a store 5-10 minutes before it closes. In the U.S. you can run into the grocery store 1 minute before closing time, and typically its employees, though are secretly annoyed, don't start harassing your for about 15-20 minutes. In Europe, they start harassing you 5 minutes before closing time. At the grocery store below our apartment in Paris, you have to enter no later than 15 minutes before closing time, and then at 5 minutes before closing time, the full-time security guard rapidly walks each isle, clapping his hands, speaking loudly and forcefully that the store is closing. There will be no loitering, and you better be out by closing--or face the wrath of the clapping and yelling security guard.
I remember being a young missionary in Holland, and being annoyed by that, chalking it up to yet another effect of socialism--that these people certainly have no incentive to make an extra buck. While a good portion of that may be true, Europeans place a high premium on quality of life, and when it's time to go home, they go home. That hurts my capitalist leanings, but there is something to be admired in the slower pace they choose.
Lest you think I've gone soft on you with all this pro-European talk today, know that I am happily and wholly American. Would I want to be Citizen in the of an EU country? Not in a million years. Would I want to start a business here? Not in a million years. But can I learn a few things that make me question my paradigms and perceptions? Absolutely. If I don't do that then I have failed as a traveler. If I don't do that then I might as well just spend my vacations in Las Vegas, awash in self-absorbed hedonism. I'm a free-market guy who believes that fiscal conservatism, low taxation, and limited government leads to greater innovation and prosperity and opportunity for more people. That said, European-style socialism has some triumphs and virtues and even a hard-core capitalist like me can learn from.
Ok, back to Normandy. We left the American Cemetery just after 6:00--after being threatened that we were going to be locked in--and stopped for dinner in the quaint town of Bayeux, a great homebase for D-Day visits. We had dinner, and then began our treck home, at about 8:45'ish. We had until 1:00 a.m. to drop off our rental cars, so theoretically we had plenty of time. We got to the Peripherique that sounds Paris just before midnight when our little nightmare began.
Siri was leading the way, directing us on how to get home. Unfortunately, Siri didn't know that a leg of the freeway was completely shut down. Oddly, there also weren't any clear detour signs, and so when we got off the freeway we continued to follow Siri's guidance, who kept trying to send us back on the same route. I had no idea where we were as I am completely unfamiliar with the roads in and out of Paris, and we were far enough of the center of the city that I could not see any landmarks to orient myself. Thus, in the absence of any good detour signs, for any hour we essentially drove in circles. At one point, Jeffrey, who was in the car with my Dad, responded to Daphne, who said that she needed to find a bathroom quickly, "Just hop out of the car, go in the bushes, and, because of the way Dad is driving, we'll be back at this same location in five minutes to pick you up."
Meanwhile, I was becoming more irritated by the minute---though I was good enough to keep that mostly to myself. I only screamed once. By 12:45 I knew there was no way that we were going to be able to drop our cars off by the 1:00 am deadline--when the car rental's night garage closes. That added to the nightmare because now I was going to have try and find a place to park in Paris in the middle of the night. In addition, my parents were leaving the next morning at 7:30, which meant if we didn't turn the cars in that night, we'd have to wake up at 6:00 a.m. to drop the cars off in time to still let them get to the airport in a timely manner.
Finally, I ignored Siri, got back on the freeway, and drove completely in a different direction. I then turned Siri back on, and chose a route of three possible that she gave me that appeared to be nowhere near the eternally circular route we had just been enduring. By 1:45 we finally rolled up to our apartment building, and tried to find a place to park. By 2:00 a.m we decided to let everyone out of the car, and go hunt for not one--but two--parking spots within a half mile radius of our apartment. I was worried we wouldn't find even one.
Thankfully, the parking gods were smilig on us, and we ended up finding two spots--that we had overlooked earlier with everyone in the cars--just 200 meters from our building. By 3:00am I was asleep, and up again at 6:00 to take the cars back and then get my parents on their way back home.
Our first blitz to Normandy--despite the horrible detour on our way home to Paris--was one the highlights of our trip. It left a deep impression on all of us. So, when our group shrunk back to just my family, we made another trip down there.
Specifically, we wanted to see Point du Hoc, Utah Beach, and then head to the southern tip of Normandy to visit Mt. Saint Michel. We again rented a van to tour the region, which in reality, is the only way to do Normandy unless you plan on going on an organized tour (about 150 euros per person from Paris, including travel). The region surrounding the various D-Day beaches is still very rural, which doesn't make it very conducive to public transportation.
We first visited Point du Hoc, one of the most evocative of the D-Day sights. In 1944 this point, resting on cliffs overlooking the ocean, hosted a series of German guns that could fire 12 miles, making both the Omaha and Utah beaches susceptible to its fire. The allies knew that the guns must be taken out or their chances of taking those two beaches would be slim. So for months prior to the landings they carpet bombed this point to smithereens, creating a moon-like lanscape that still exists with craters everywhere. Despite the massive bombings, the allies were only able to disarm 5% of the German's guns.
The crater pocked landcape of Point Du Hoc.
Notice how vertical monument to the American Paratroopers who drove the
Germans from the Point, symbolically resting on top of an in-tact German gun battery.
American paratroopers scaled these cliffs to win the Point.
As I have been known to say, "All you have to do is marry a babe!"
On the morning of D-Day, American paratroopers were supposed to land here first, scale the cliffs, win the point, and disarm the guns. A group of about 450 soldiers were part of the company organized for this task. Sadly, they landed off-course, and spent a good amount of time under enemy fire on the beach below trying to reach the cliffs. Despite loosing 2/3rds of its men, the paratroopers scaled the cliffs, and won the day, taking cover in the craters that now made for perfect foxholes. Sadly, when the Americans won the point the realized that there were no German guns on sight. Can you imagine what they first thought? We did all that for nothing??
The great German general, Erwin Rommel, had his men move the guns a mile inland a few days before the D-day landing to protect them. Despite the disappointment the paratroopers must have felt upon finding the guns, they ended up playing an invaluable role in winning the day for the region, as they pushed and drove the Germans further inland, and kept them from advancing troops toward the other beaches. They also found the camouflaged guns later in the day and were able to destroy them.
After visiting Point du Hoc, we headed to Utah Beach, by far the greatest success story of the D-Day for the Allies. By the way, no one really knows why Utah Beach is named after that great state. Originally, it was code named Oregon but someone changed the name to Utah, presumably a military leader from Utah who helped orchestrate the days' events. Originally Utah Beach was not part of the D-Day plan, partly due to the riskiness of its location. But Eisenhower insisted that the allies add it to the invasion, which is one reason why the landings were delayed a month. For reasons that I won't bother to explain here, the location of the beach offered a huge strategic advantage for the Allies--should they be able to take it--but the landscape surrounding the beach made it a very risky move, one that many feared could lead to massive Allied casualties.
Ironically, the invasion at Utah Beach proved to be the Allies' most successful--even though the initial ships landed off course, and were disoriented. Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. (Teddy Roosevelt's son), the courageous and beloved field general who lead his troops onto Utah Beach, was quoted as saying, after they landed some miles off course, "We'll fight this war right here!" And fight they did, quickly taking the beach, as the Nazi's retreated rapidly. Teddy died of a heart attack 12-days later.
Jeffrey, Daphne, and Abby at the Museum at Utah Beach
This stirring photo from the Utah Beach Museum shows a local Norman, who has come across the body of a fallen US soldier before his comrades were able to retrieve his body. The frenchmen prays for the boy, and places flowers (as other locals have done) upon his body, which has also since been covered partially by a blanket. Hear that? Yes, that is the silence, reverence, and emotion that the D-Day sites place imposes on all visitors.
Kids at Utah Beach (just in case you couldn't tell).
Lisa, either reflecting on what happened at Utah Beach, or thinking, "When will this guy stop taking pictures of me!"
Know question what Jeffrey is thinking.
And no question what Abby is thinking: "Give me sand and a hole to play in and I've got it all."
At Utah Beach there is a superb museum, detailing both the battle at Utah Beach and others, as well as the history leading up to it. If you go there, you shouldn't miss it.
After a tour of the museum, we went and played on the beach. From the beach, you can't see any of the remnants of the war, like you do at Omaha and Port Winston, but the setting still commands a reverence for what happened there.
Point du Hoc and Utah Beach consumed an entire day for us. We ate another late dinner--an "An American Hot Dog" in the small town of Port Bessin, where our hotel was. The hot dog was actually a sausage in a baguette, with grilled onions and french fries packed into the baguette. Funny, I don't recall eating such a thing in America. Then again, I haven't had any French Toast here, or any German Chocolate cake in Germany, or Dutch Ice Cream in Holland. I love it how we attach the names of foreign countries to our food to make it sound more exotic. Maybe I should create a mortgage product called "Swiss 30 Year Fixed."
The next day we spent a lazy morning by the pool at the hotel, checked out late, and made our way to Mont Saint Michel, just under a two hour drive from where we were in Normandy. I've already written about Mt Saint Michel, a destination I would include on any trip to Normandy.
We loved our stay in the region. To really do it right, you need three nights in the region. But if you only have a day, it can be done too (as our initial blitz showed). If you were planning a trip there, I would suggest the following: leave Paris around 5:00 pm. and arrive that first night in the D-Day region. Spend the next full day with Arromanches, American Cemetery, and Omaha Beach (I would also strongly consider hiring a private guide to show you this stuff, which would probably enhance the experience even more). Get up early the next morning and do Point du Hoc, and Utah Beach and its Museum, and the drive out to Mont Saint Michel. Spend a late evening there, and sleep (cheaply) nearby. Drive back to Paris, or your next destination that next morning.
We are very happy we did D-Day. Our visit to France would have been incomplete without that experience. Here are some additional photos form our D-Day experience:
Daphne and Emma at Point du Hoc in the remains of a German gun battery that
housed the huge guns that paratroopers were trying to destroy.
Sam, Emma, and Daphne in a hole, once used by German soliders to shoot from.
Abigail among the flowers of Normandy. The landscape remains peaceful and pastoral.
Sam and Daph at Point du Hoc.
The family in front of the monument at Point du Hoc.
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