This was, followed by a walk along the
vast Utah beach, along with a memorial
to ‘Dick’ Winters of Easy Company
from Band of Brothers along with other
significant landmarks around Angoville
and Ste Marie-du-Mont. The highlight for
me though, on a gloriously sunny first day,
was the visit to St Mere Eglise. This was
seen in the film ‘The Longest Day’ and you
can wander around attempting to visualise
what it was like back in 1944. Highlights
include a visit to the famous pump where
on D Day, a line of villagers passed buckets
of water between each other to try and
put out a burning house, together with an
effigy of John Steele, hanging down on
one side of the Church. Steele was the US
parachutist who was caught on the church
steeple as he attempted to land.
My second piece of advice is it is definitely
worth using a Tour Guide and Jules is an
expert. Amongst all the key places you
would expect to visit, we also had access
to areas that were off the main routes, but
certainly no less interesting, which included
the confessional box in a church that still
bears the scars of bullet holes that were
sprayed across it after a German soldier
attempted to hide from his pursuers . Each
stop was accompanied by a fascinating
story of where, how and why events
happened as they did.
The second day, my wife and I ventured
out on our own and decided to explore
the Gold beach area. This turned out to
be very poignant for me as my father was
in the 61st Reconnaissance regiment,
part of the 50th Division, which landed
ahead of the main force on King Sector
at Ver-sur-Mer. So visits to the nearby
town of Arromanches, with views of
the Mulberry Harbour, as well as the
villages of Asnelles and Courseulles were
particularly special. There was so much
to see, but we didn’t have time to get
round everything so a visit to the Longues
Battery was an absolute must on my list.
Essentially this consisted of three large gun
emplacements positioned inland that were
eventually silenced by Allied battleships,
but incredibly still remain largely intact
today. Sitting on the cliff edge in front of
the Battery was a two story observation
bunker which you can enter and take in
the view from where the Germans would
have seen thousands of ships as far as
they could see on the morning of the 6th
June. One can only imagine the fear and
panic that would have enveloped them –
one American tourist in the bunker turned
to me and summed this up as eloquently
as only American’s can when he said,
“….poor bastards!”.
including one I found of H. Cooper of the
61st Reconnaissance regiment, who died
aged only 23! I wondered if my Dad, four
years younger at the time would have
known him.
Day three saw us return to the US sector
and experience a dramatic visit to Pointe
du Hoc, Omaha Beach and the US
Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer. What really
struck me here was not only the enormity
of the invasion area and the scale of the
invasion front, but also how much America
has spent on making sure the events from
the US perspective are never forgotten.
There is a vast array of plaques, statues
and memorials to almost every regiment
and division that took part in the landings
here and to see the massive bomb craters
that exist around the aforementioned
Pointe du Hoc, only serve to remind you of
the horrors the Germans would have faced
from the enormous air and sea onslaught.
This was in complete contrast to the peace
and tranquility that exists today.
When Mrs E commented to me,”…haven’t
we seen enough gun emplacements,
bunkers and beaches…?”, we agreed it
was time to head back to Bayeux and visit
the imposing Cathedral with its stunning
stained glass windows, followed by the
town’s museum to see the world renowned
Bayeux Tapestry. I must admit I was
disappointed with the latter though and I
couldn’t help feeling that it was, to quote
Shakespeare, ‘Much Ado About Nothing’!
A tad harsh perhaps but I was expecting
more, especially as it wasn’t cheap to get in!
The next day we made an early start
and drove across to the immense Caen
Museum to see a vast array of displays
and artefacts from, not only D Day
including the weapons and uniforms, but
also separate exhibitions for WW1 and the
Cold War. Then we discovered we could
access an underground bunker below the
museum, the location for the command
post of the 716th German Infantry division
which guarded the sector from Omaha to
the mouth of the Orne river.
Trust me when I say, If you only visit one
museum in Normandy, I would thoroughly
recommend it is this one. Well worth the
entrance fee!
From here we set off for one more
landmark that I was determined to see –
that of Pegasus Bridge across the Caen
Canal and the scene of the glider landings
from the British 6th Airborne Division
that signalled the first engagement of the
invasion. The original Pegasus Bridge had
to be removed and placed outside the
nearby museum as the road needed to be
widened, but you can still marvel at what
would have happened here, as you wander
across an exact replica of the bridge, take
a stroll along ‘Avenue Major John Howard’
who led this assault, and stand at the
actual sites where the original Horsa gliders
landed. Plus you can still visit the Café
Gondree next to the river that is reported
to be the first place in Normandy to be
liberated by the Allies.
With plenty of blue sky and sunshine in
abundance, it was the perfect way to end a
truly memorable trip and begin the journey
back home.
I’ll definitely be back as there was still so
much to see and do, including visits to
the Sword (British) and Juno (Canadian)
part of the landings. My only regret was I
wish I had been able to do this with Dad,
but whenever we talked about it and I
had suggested this to him, he always
declined – he lost so many friends there
and I think 60 years on, he still didn’t want
to remember!
I’m already planning my next trip, where I
want to follow the route that Dad took right
across France and in to Germany…if it’s
half as good as this trip, I warn you, I might
be gone for a while!
By Laurence Elphick
The day ended with a trip to the Bayeux
War Cemetery, the largest British WW2
cemetery in France, with 4,648 graves
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