At last we have arrived at what for most of us is the
highlight of the trip and the main reason we chose this itinerary. Most
everyone here has parents or grandparents who were part of The Greatest
Generation. Rouen is as close as our
boat could get to the sites as we are near the mouth of the river and these
ships cannot tolerate ocean stress. So with only one day to visit our history,
we were up, off the boat, and on the busses early. As we walked along the quay to where they
were parked on the roadside, we cast a wary eye to the sky. Darkening clouds matched the mood of serious reflection
we were all beginning to demonstrate as we thought of the sacrifices made for
our freedoms.
Our guide was a lovely, very French Madame named Marie
Helen. Giles, our driver, was so French
looking he was almost a caricature! But
like all of the drivers we have had, the traffic was nothing in his capable
hands and the driving rain that was falling by the time we were leaving the
city did not affect his skills at all.
It was too bad that visibility was not good as the Norman countryside is
lush, bright green, farmland. This is
probably because they get a usual 150 days of rain every year!
During the two and a half hour ride, Marie filled our heads
with so much information about French life and attitudes in general as well as
many details of the landings. She shared
anecdotes of her parent’s and grandparent’s lives during the war. She told of how her grandfather would have to
bicycle for one hour into the countryside to a friend’s home to buy milk and
butter and eggs and then bike back. She
was telling us how many French people did not have good teeth for many years
because as children during the war their teeth became transparent from lack of
calcium.
She also shared stories of the French women going into the
fields to gratefully greet the paratroopers.
They would bring them wine or Madeleines and then take the parachutes
for the silk. Once the landings started
all the women ran to the boulangeries to get bread and so did the German
soldiers. They knew there would be none
for a long time to come.
There had been two different tours organized. One group, of Canadians and Brits, went to
the beachheads where their men fought and died: Sword, Juno (Canadian), and
Gold as well as the Pegasus Bridge.
They also toured Bayeux and had the opportunity to visit the famed
Bayeux Tapestries. This is a series of
72 panels depicting the history of William the Bastard who is better known as
William the Conqueror.
Our tour drove along these beaches while the guide gave
great details of the planning and the logistics of the assault. Each has a memorial dedicated to the
thousands that gave their lives in such a never before or since attempt to
liberate a nation. It is still to this
day, the largest amphibious invasion in world history. Land, sea, and air elements were under a
combined command of American and British generals. Operation Neptune refers specifically to the
landing but the better known name is Operation Overlord which continued until
the Allied Forces crossed the Seine River on which we are travelling.
We stopped where there were surviving German bunkers
complete with abandoned cannon. These
cannon could shoot 12 miles. As we
walked through them and behind the guns we could see the vantage point they had. Perched on the cliffs above the beaches they
could take easy aim at the encroaching soldiers who were exhausted by the
struggle through the rising tide, to storm across the wide open sand, climb the
steep cliffs, and then face a perilous crawl or charge across a flower dotted
green field toward death.
We came to the artificial harbor of Arromanches. Remnants of the enormous barriers and piers
that were built in England and floated across the Channel still project from
the sea. A short movie described the
building, installation and use of these to aid the soldiers in debarking the
ships. After this massive project was
nearly completed a four day storm moved in and halted progress causing some of
the breakwater to break away. Luckily
many of the piers did not fail and all was not lost. However 17 of the 19 Sherman tanks that were
to be rolled ashore were lost at sea. So
one of the first objectives was to secure as many German tanks as
possible.
We had a sit down lunch in a little restaurant named Juin
6. The salad, chicken and potatoes, and
small chocolate mousse were accompanied by wine. I felt, as did many others, that a box lunch
on the bus would have been a good thing so that we would have an extra hour to
absorb the feeling of the places.
After lunch we drove further along the shore through some
tiny villages and summer resort cottages and hotels. Then we arrived at the
American Cemetaire. The land was donated
by the French to the American government for the honor of the heroes of
Normandy. You have seen pictures of the
unending rows of pristine white crosses and Stars of David. But the actual overwhelming expanse of some
9,600 carefully, precisely aligned symbols overlooking the beach where they
died in a country so far from their homes is stunning.
We walked through the eerie silence to the memorial. The black marble statue of freedom and
victory rises about 30 feet into the center of the open colonnade. On either side was a map of the fighting. Our
Viking group gathered around a young French woman who explained the brief
ceremony we would have. It began with a
playing of the national anthem and I believe each of us was singing. Facing this field of valor, I know for sure,
I was not the only one with tears streaming!
Taps was sounded and a moment of silence was followed by the
reading of a moving poem by a young French girl who had recently visited. No one spoke.
Claire handed each of us a long stemmed rose which we could place at a
gravesite. I found a 19 year old boy’s
tomb and placed it there. He was from
Georgia. I think I will try to look him
up and maybe let a family member know that we were there and he was remembered.
I made my way to the chapel in the center of the park like
cemetery. The blue mosaic ceiling
featured angels protecting a soldier or comforting a fallen hero. Behind the round building even more graves
extended to what seemed like the horizon.
I did not have time to visit the tiny museum and that made
me think of the lunch solution.
We continued on. The
cemetery overlooks Omaha Beach. The
bloodiest of the battles and perhaps of the war. I wish I could remember the statistics that
Marie was so quick to recall. Most
everyone who landed there died. Enough
survived with tenacious determination to win the day and move inland. The beach stretches for five miles. And it was not an empty, deserted area at
that time.
We drove down a road where we could see more bunkers and
‘hidey holes’ from which the Germans could machine gun the invading troops –
us! We came to the road that stretched
along parallel to the seashore. On our
left was the beautiful expanse of now inviting sand as we drove back toward
Arromanches. On our right was one row of
homes with the highly sought after ocean view.
Immediately behind them rose a steep, bramble covered cliff. These houses or their predecessors were here
on that fateful day. They had been
bombed, and shot at. Many of the people
had evacuated but some remained to see the invasion sweep over them. To see the Liberators be shot from the high
hill and die in their front yards.
The Beaches of Normandy, once a
fun, summer vacation spot have again returned to that for the French
people. But I do think none of them and
certainly none of us could spend even a moment there without whispering a word
of thanks to those who gave us all or preserved for us our freedom.
It was with solemn near silence that we boarded our bus to
return to our ship. As soon as we began
to drive the rain began again. How lucky
we were to have a break in the weather to take in our history. Of course, part of the quiet on the bus was
due to the fact that almost every man, and even most of the women and both
teenagers fell asleep. It was the
combination of the rain and the emotion and the long rides after hectic days on
board that did it, I am sure.
We had only about fifteen minutes onboard before the
Captain’s Farewell Cocktail Party. I
have discovered that Champagne is much better when served fifty / fifty with
Cassis! The Farewell Dinner that
followed was a fixed menu featuring truffles, the most delicious fillet served
as a deconstructed Beef Wellington, and a trio of non - chocolate desserts
including Crepes Suzette and also Crème Brule.
Each night the Chef Demetrios makes the rounds. Ruth asked him about his nickname and said
some people just call him Jimmy. I said,
“I call you the Food God!” Needless to
say he sparkled with delight!
In the lounge Jim (Rod Stewart) and Jane joined us for the
music trivia game. Jim and Ruth are both
great with music and I am always an enthusiastic participant. This was a little different than what I have
played before. The questions were
written out and Nickey would play a song.
Sometimes we had to fill in the missing words and other times we need to
know the decade of the song or the birthplace of the singer and fun things like
that. We got every question right! And we got maximum bonus points because
sometimes dancing was required and we always all four did it! We again won a bottle of champagne.
We were having so much fun that after the game others joined
with us and we stayed in the lounge long after the piano player left for the
evening, the Maitre’d retired and the poor bartender was sleepily restocking
for the next day!
Definitely the best day of sightseeing, best day of eating
and drinking, and best day of fun of the entire journey so far!
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