NorMANdy

Lovely Devoted Readers:
I have finally found the precious time to update my blog...about an event that occurred about a month ago. Yes, my friends, the time has come to hear about my adventures in Normandy at the D-Day beaches.

It was a cold and rainy day, which really never happens there. First, we went to the D-Day museum in Caens, France, a very well-made tribute to the events that occurred there. They had a pre-D-Day section on the events that led up to WWII, then a part about the actual day of June 6, then an after part that continued through the Cold War. We watched a film at the museum that was especially moving, it fully captured the enormity of the battle and the way in which history hung in the air on that day. It was a somber reminder of how many lives were lost fighting for our freedom--the footage was at times difficult for me to watch because of the rows of men just being mowed down on the beaches. In some cases, out of a platoon of two hundred men, only a handful would reach the top of the hill. I cannot even begin to imagine what my grandfather must have faced that day. It became very real to me, but I think a lot of people sadly don't understand how big of a sacrifice it was--a few teenagers in front of us were doing the Heil Hitler sign in front of a Nazi flag and taking pictures.


We then went to the American Cemetery at Omaha Beach. It was a bit funny because French people still aren't completely sure how to pronounce such a funny word, especially with French articles, ending up as "L'Omaha." And it was cool being able to say that I live in the place the beach was named after, if a bit odd that the word Omaha was plastered everywhere in sight.



The American Cemetery was very sobering. Rows of white crosses (and the occasional Star of David) filled the cliff above Omaha Beach. It kind of made me wonder what such a cemetery would look like today: how many crosses, stars of david, crescent moons, or just plain headstones (gotta account for all the atheists!).

I thought of how different the world of my grandparents and my own are. Even though I have lived through Desert Storm, the Iraq War, and now the Afghanistan War, my food hasn't been rationed, everyone I know doesn't have a son fighting in the war or a star in their window, I don't check the war updates every day in the paper. I'm not afraid my brother or dad will get called up for the draft.My day to day life is much the same, although there are certainly many who cannot say the same. To me, Germany and Japan are our Western allies, not people to be loathed or feared. We fight with unmanned, computer guided missiles now and the burden of fighting is often carried by people enlisting out of necessity. The World Wars were all-encompassing, all-or-nothing. They gave a generation a sense of meaning and purpose, something the generations of today have a hard time finding.


Walking down to the beach itself was a shock. Omaha Beach is absolutely huge. It's probably two football fields at least to reach the cliffs, which were heavily fortified with German munitions and underground bunkers.


We then went to the Point Du Hoc, a cliff overlooking Omaha Beach that was a necessary but incredibly bloody strategic point to take. GIs had to rappel up the cliff, facing fire from several directions, and overtake sealed bunkers and tanks.


Finally, we went to the German Cemetery, which was a bit different from the American Cemtery (while still having all the necessities, namely, corpses and tombstones). I was shocked at how young all of the German soldiers were: 17 or 18 years old. A lost generation.


If you're ever in Normandy, the D-Day beaches are a must for any American.

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I'm on spring break right now in Prague, which I'll be blogging about later. A bientot!
Claire