The craziness of war! A solemn day ..

My research and reading of .. Normandy- "When the Sea Came Alive : An Oral History of D-Day" consisting totally of interviews with those who were here, could not have prepared me for the emotions and feelings when visiting the many sites here.  

We first visited the American Cemetery.   Over 9,000 graves.   Just above the Omaha beach landing area .. 4-miles of heavily defended beaches!

We visited the memorial where one of our group, a veteran, placed a wreath at the base of the statue after the playing of the National Anthem and taps.

Afterwards we headed down to the beach.   On the way we passed this marker :

Jan captured this touching photo as we drove through Vierville-sur-Mer.

Down to the beach at Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer and the memorials.

Over to Longues-sur-Mer to see the 155mm and 88mm German defensive bunkers.

These were perched high on the hill quite a ways from the edge.   They had to use a fire command bunker almost 200yds away and communicate with buried cables.

We drove on to Arromanches to view the remaining Mulberry harbors.   These were temporary harbors and ramps to facilitate the rapid offloading of cargo onto the beaches.   Over 400 were towed over from England.   Expand the following picture to see more pieces in the distance.  Following this picture are a couple from the day.

Red Cross vehicles bringing back wounded to the ships.  Someone being silly :

A long sobering day.  The scale of the operation is hard to imagine!  I just hope that we don't get ourselves into another 'World War' !

Tomorrow it's on to .. Rouen, Joan of Arc, and the famous cathedral.