Normandy and the D-Day beaches

Just wanted to do my post on Normandy, before I forget everyhitng.

So on Friday we went to Mont St. Michel. Pretty incredible sight from far away. It was full of a lot of tourists though, and not that impressive inside. But it was a sight.

The next day after a fabulous sleep at my hotel (a better bed then the one at my apartment here, and much better pillows) we headed out early to the American Cemetary at Omaha Beach. My grandfather landed on Omaha on the second day, and got a purple heart because he was grazed in the leg by a bullet, so I was excited to go here. I also never knew him, so I really wanted to share in this part of his life.

I am not a very emotional person at things like this, but I was getting teary eyed through most of it. A lot of other people in my group were too. The tour guide was fantastic, you could tell she was really emotionally involved in it. The cemetary is filled with tons of white crosses in perfect lines, and she took us to one that was in the middle of them, and it was the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. On it was engraved, "Here lies a comrade only known to God himself." She said that it was horrible that a parent could never lay flowers on a grave with their son's name on it, and people may see the other crosses and relate to them because they have names, but this one no one knows, and may not remember, but by showing it to us, we would remember him, and so through that, no one would forget him. And now from me telling you, you won't forget him either.

Among the crosses were Stars of David here and there, and she said while most Jewish people are buried in exclusively Jewish cemetaries, here, the American government wanted to put them among the other crosses to show that in America, we don't consider Jewish people different, or unequal, from Christians. It was an especially powerful statement considering the Holocaust had just occured.

On the way out you could really see how all of the crosses were lined up in perfect rows. The guide said, not only are they crosses, but they also look like soldiers standing at attention, because when you are a soldier you are a soldier for life.

It was also really surreal, because I learned while I was there that 50% of the men who landed on Omaha on the first day were killed. And just seeing those tombstones, it made me think that it could have been my grandfather just as easily as any of those men, and if it had been I wouldn't be here today. It was upsetting to think about.

We went after this farther down the beach to a place where there are still huge crater holes from bombings, and bunkers where huge machine guns would have gone, with barbed wire in some places still. Right now, it is a beautiful sight, with flowers growing everywhere in a pretty meadow, but, again, these flowers are growing and are fertilized by all the men who died there. Morbid to think of, I know, but true.

This section of France has a lot of American flags hanging everywhere, and is a pretty pro-American place in Europe. A lot of people here remember vividly what happened and are grateful for what we did for them. When you see the cemeteries, I guess you remember how many Americans died to liberate your country, and you are, understandably grateful. In a previous year, one of the tour guides at the cemetary told a story about how there was this woman who carried currency in the bottom of her vegetable basket to give to the Resistance, and if she had been found out she would have been killed. Later, she told a couple of people that that woman was her mother. So it is really real for them here.

Just being there, it made me proud to be an American, and proud to believe that freedom is precious, and that terror is always wrong. We may not always choose our battles wisely, but I think we chose well in this respect.

Just wanted to tell all of you this before I forgot it all. More later.

Love,
Em