We started the day in Longues-sur-Mer over looking Gold Beach from the German naval bunkers designed to prevent the Allies from retaking France from Hitler’s grip. These bunkers were part of Hitler’s “Atlantic wall” that stretched from the tip of Norway all the way down to Spain along the coastline to give his troops clear visual access and strategic installments equipped to fend off an Allied attack.

     These four navel guns are the best preserved battlements of World War II in the area.  Each of these blockhouses has a 150 mm piece of naval artillery that the Germans got from the Czech Republic when they over took that country. Hope is standing next to this huge gun:

     Having a range of 11 miles, these powerful guns were designed to hit ships approaching the beaches in case of an Allied invasion.  Here is a panoramic picture looking out to Gold Beach and the English Channel beyond:

 

      Thankfully, the Allied troops’s air bombing the day before D-Day took out the electrical connections between the German Forward Observation Post that connected back to the Naval guns. Because of this, on June 6 as Allied warships approached, these German guns fired over a hundred and fifty rounds, but not a single ship was hit. It was one of the few “breaks” that the Allied forces would receive that day.

     Within 20 minutes, British ships were able to score a direct hit on one of the blockhouses, and you can see the destruction of the massive metal gun housing in this picture.

     Eventually the Allies were able to capture all the naval gun installations and capture 88 German POW’s.  In later weeks, the Allies used gun station #1 as a munitions storage bunker.  Unfortunately, a fire blew the whole gun installation to pieces, throwing concrete and pieces of metal everywhere.  Harmony is standing in front of the area:

 

      We were told that the movie, “The Longest day” — a 3 hour epic from 1961 telling of the D-Day invasion was actually filmed on location including at this site.  I just watched it on iTunes! It was so helpful to understand WWII history and I fully recommend it.  It is not as graphic as “Saving Private Ryan.”

     D-Day included more than 6000 ships and 156,000 soldiers from the United States, Britain and Canada. The Canadian forces approached Juno Beach. The British soldiers approached the Gold Beach and Sword Beach. And the American troops attacked Omaha and Utah beaches.  As you can see in the infographic below, over 11,000 planes were used in the operation.  (Including 24,000 paratroopers who were dropped behind enemy lines).

 

     The entire operation had taken several years to plan in a coordinated multi-national effort. Interestingly, carrier pigeons were used to transmit important messages from French Resistance back to London in glass vials attached to their feet during the final planning stages.

      We then drove our 1940’s military jeeps through the narrow winding country lanes towards Omaha Beach.  We had a unique and powerful lesson as we looked from the German machine gun battlements down onto Omaha Beach.

     It gave us the perspective we would never have gotten from a textbook about how huge this location really is. It is a 4 mile long beach and at low tide 200 yards from the water to the beginning of the hillsides. Later, we would go out onto Omaha Beach and look back up onto the hillsides the Allied troops would have had to face.

      The Americans sent two full divisions to Omaha beach, or 36,000 men.  It was quite sobering to learn that in the first hour at Omaha Beach we lost 50% of the brave men who were headed for shore. To this day, the beach is referred to as “Bloody Omaha” when people talk about it’s pivotal role in WWII history.

     Eric told us the story of Jimmy Montif (sp?) from Virginia who was with L company. He single-handedly cleared mines off the eastern tip of the beach to allow two Sherman tanks to approach the hillsides and pound the German positions with ammunition. He also instructed his men to aim their fire at German positions while he himself went around behind them and took them out with grenades and mortars.  He was awarded the medal of honor for this outstanding contribution to the Omaha Beach invasion and now rests in the American cemetery along with 9387 other WWII heroes.

     While other beaches fell in less time (Utah Beach fell in 45 min), Omaha Beach took nine hours to secure. Overall the battle of Normandy took 100 days. There are not only American, British, Canadian cemeteries but also German cemeteries in the Normandy area. There were 75,000 German veterans buried in the Normandy area, the youngest of which were 13 when they served.  Here is a picture of the “Commonwealth” cemetery where people from every nation involved in the war between 1939 and 1945 were buried:

     Eric gave us a great reminder to honor all those who served (or are serving) in any nation’s Armed Forces because they are simply doing their jobs. Governments decide when and where wars will be fought and military personnel carry out their instructions.  If you are a peace loving person, the best advocate for peace is to visit a military cemetery.  It is a potent reminder that people gave their young lives so that others could experience freedom.

     Eric also told us a story of taking a WWII vet out on Omaha beach.  The vet broke down crying seeing children playing on the beach where so many of his friends had died, making noise and building sand castles.  Eric started to apologize for their behavior, but the Vet stopped him and said, “No, you’re reading this wrong. We gave our lives and efforts so that these beaches and countries could be enjoyed!”  We should not feel guilty about playing on these beaches because that is what these brave soldiers fought and died for.

     This was a particularly moving and impactful part of our tour.  We learned that the American’s brought all their dead to this location and were given this land by the French to operate as a military cemetery.

     There are 9,387 graves marked with white Italian marble crosses or Jewish stars.  This represents 40% of those Americans who died in the battle.  The other 60% were sent home at the request of their families.  Eric pointed out the pros and cons of this.  While people were able to bring their loved ones home, most are buried in local cemeteries.  The benefit of this large American Cemetery is that it is maintained, and people still regularly come to honor those who fought and died for freedom.

     We saw that on the back of the grave markers were the 8 digit numbers of their dog tags.

      For the 197 American soldiers found without dog tags their grave markers simply and appropriately read:

     “Here rests in honored glory a comrade in arms known but to God.”  There is another wall of the names of missing American Soldiers whose bodies were never found.

     We also saw one of the graves of 4 women who died after the war but are buried at the American WWII cemetery for their service during and after the war. Mary Barlow, member of the 6888th postal service, died along with two others in an accident. Because this was a period in our history that the US had a segregated army, the African American women who had volunteered to serve their country needed a place to serve. So, Elinore Roosevelt helped inspire the creation of the 6888th postal service. Unfortunately, historians are still trying to secure photographs of Mary Barlow the other veterans  of the 6888th so they receive proper recognition and honor for giving their lives in service during WWII. Thankfully, they are identified and buried with full honor in the American Cemetery.

 

      “During the war, nearly 1,000 women from the “Six-Triple Eight” Central Postal Battalion moved mountains of mail for millions of American service members and civilians that clogged warehouses in England and France….  Inside the warehouse, the windows were painted black to keep the light from coming out at night against bombing raids. Because there was no heat, the women donned long johns and anything else they could layer on.   But the temperature was nothing compared with the daunting challenge of sorting the mail.When they walked inside the warehouse, it was stacked to the ceiling with undelivered packages and letters. “They had 90 billion pieces of mail,” Dixon told CNN, some of it from hometown friends and family addressed only to “Junior, U.S. Army or Buster, U.S. Army,” she said. 

“We had to figure it out,” she said.  Even when there were complete names, it wasn’t easy. 

There were 7,500 soldiers named Robert Smith in the European Theater of Operations, according to the Museum of Black WWII History Web site, and the women had to keep them straight.

Because all undeliverable mail passed through them, they were charged with keeping information cards on everyone in the European Theater of Operations, according to the Army site. Because frontline soldiers were often moved frequently, the women often had to update information several times a month.

While it was an arduous task, the women knew the importance of their job. For soldiers in the field, letters from loved ones brought important personal connections that kept their morale going.

So they kept on sorting.  Eight hours at a time, three shifts per day, seven days a week, they kept on sorting. And because of them, 65,000 letters went out each shift to soldiers across Europe.”

(see http://edition.cnn.com/2009/US/02/25/postal.battalion/index.html?eref=ib_us)

Just imagine how meaningful it would be for people in times of war to receive a letter from home!

     When we think about WWII we usually have a picture of “a white guy with a gun in a French field” in our minds.  So this cemetery is a great reminder of ALL those who fought in WWII.

     Finally, the statue at the memorial called “The Spirit of the American Youth rising from the Waves” by Donald De Lue.  On either side of the statue are maps about the invasion of Normandy, showing which nations and military divisions took in this historic war.