The Goad Adventures: The Beaches of Normandy

So it's June 21st (for a few more hours at least) as I write this. This is pretty much the first time I've been able to get some free time to write anything in a long time. We are very busy here in the Goad household. As promised, these are my comments given, "at a later date."

For the 65th Anniversary of the D-Day landings, Kristin and I signed Austin and ourselves up for a group tour with the USO to attend a remembrance/memorial ceremony at the Normandy cemetary and a limited tour of the region.

For those who haven't been, Normandy is a completely different sort of France to encounter. This is a region that "enjoys" most of the same rainy weather as England (due to it's proximity), making the fields a vibrant green. This is one of France's "breadbasket regions." Farmhouses and barns punctuate the landscape. The simplicity of French Norman architecture is a far cry from the fussiness of Parisian Beaux Arts architecture. While the occasional cone-topped tower may be found, it's a utilitarian grain silo, and most often attached to a home or barn. Everything is seemingly made out of stone and timberframes with terra cotta tile roofs. The hedge rows which have now been made moderately famous by those who give accounts of their landing at D-Day are simply a poor man's fence. They are built atop mounds (with ditches on either side) that serve to irrigate and separate farmer's fields, and are so thick in many farms as to not even allow the smallest lambs through.

One of the things Kristin and I enjoyed the most about Normandy was that it hadn't succumbed to commercialism. There were no massive 4-star hotels dominating the cliffs of Normandy. And while we didn't have much time to tour around, we didn't see a lot of souvenir stands. I'm trying to remember, but I'm not sure if we saw any. A couple restaurants had made up some T-shirts for a little extra money on the side, but that was it. There was enough monuments and memorials to show proper respect and remembrance, but not too much, as anyone visiting Gettysburg National Monument may have experienced. Nothing formal, nothing kitschy. The people of Normandy have preserved their culture, identity, and landscape, much to their great credit. Additonally, I would say the French there are still to this day very much appreciative of American sacrifices. I've never seen so many American flags flying in a foreign country.

Because of the French efforts at preservation, it was easy to see the lay of the land and the challenges that faced the men landing at Normandy. I've been involved in choosing beaches for landings before, and I would never have chosen Normandy. Our guide laid out the same challenges I would have cited to my commander: A well-prepared enemy commanding high cliffs over a very short beach with no cover to offer and very few egress routes off the beach, all of which are covered by enemy defensive positions. Add to that the hedge rows making passage to the interior difficult in its own rite, in addition to further enemy positions to fight through. I would have argued long and hard for another place to put men ashore. Smarter men than I realized the significance and advantage to be gained here, though.

One of the surprises to me was that there weren't more massive concrete pillboxes built into the cliffs. Movies like Saving Private Ryan make you think that there were cliffs to be encountered all up and down the beach, and that every 200 yards or so there was a massive fortification built into it offering ideal protection for machine gun nests giving crossing fields of fire. The truth of the matter was that we saw very few. I'm supposing that our Navy friends shot some right out of the cliffs (as was evidenced in a few places) and while we didn't get to walk the beach very much, my assumption after seeing it was that there was probably less than six actually built into the cliffs. The other thing that was unexpected was that cliffs didn't extend as far as the eye could see. In fact, cliffs were only in and around the American landing beaches of Utah (furthest West) and Omaha (next beach area to the East) Our Allies didn't face any picnic, either, but the topography was much more favorable on Sword, Gold, and Juno beaches (farther East) where they landed.

The cliff above Omaha beach has been beautified and made into an American War cemetary. France, as it has done for all of it's other war cemetaries for the Americans (both WWI and II) has granted the land to the United States, much as it does for an embassy. As you've seen in previous posts about our War cemetaries overseas, these places are kept immaculate. Normandy was no exception. Bright and healthy green grass with no fallen leaves to be found, well-tended flowerbeds, carefully trimmed shrubs, and thoughtfully pruned trees are the setting in which almost 9,700 simple white crosses and stars of David stretch out for a distance that is hard to understand without seeing it first-hand.

The cemetary has three Medal of Honor winners (one of whom was the son of President Theodore Roosevelt), a General, and 2 of the Niland brothers (upon whom the story of Saving Private Ryan was based) buried there.

The 65th anniversary was well-attended. President Nicolas Sarkozy, Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada, Prime Minister Gordon Brown of the United Kingdom, HRH Prince Charles, and President Obama all made appearances. All but Prince Charles made short speeches. I'm glad they came; they all made appropriate speches for the occasion, and lent weight to the auspiciousness of the occasion. While it was certainly a thrill to be around/in the presence of such heavy hitters in the political arena, it was a double-edged sword for me. I felt like their presence took something away from the ceremony, too. The security procedures in the bag and coat screening and metal detector area, 'Cadillac One' parked near the entrance to the cemetary for gawkers to look at, and the audacity and ostentatiousness of the various heads of state showing up in helicopters with attendant security helicopters all took attention away from where it rightly ought to have been, which was to honor those gravestones and the old codgers who survived that nightmare of a day.

President Obama's star-power is amazing overseas. I saw several Frenchmen wearing Obama T-shirts, and the crowd pushing for a glimpse of him as he and First Lady Michelle Obama boarded Marine One was primarily an international crowd. The French didn't care that much to see their own President off in his helicopter, but they were jockying for a position to see ours.

Because of all the extra hoopla of the dignitaries visiting, all of our tours got cut short. It takes a lot of time to get in and out of a cemetary when there's security procedures, you have to wait for helicopters to take off, and there's a lot of people to move. The abbreviated tours took us to all the sites; we just didn't have enough time to go exploring, and the guide didn't have enough time to talk about everything. We didn't even get to tour Mont St. Michel, the spectacular monastery-on-an-island you see pictured below. Just got out of the bus and snapped some pictures, got back on the bus and left.

We got a bit of an education by watching the entire Band of Brothers series on the bus' DVD player as we traveled home, though. There's a bit of Hollywood in it, but as far as war movies go, it's definitely a series to be put on anyone's short list of favorites. Kristin felt like she had earned quite a few points by doing the tour and watching the entire series. She'll be able to cash in with some chick-flick dates, or something similar down the road, I'm sure.

I think perhaps the thing I might have personally enjoyed the most was seeing all the military vehicle "preservationists" (as they call themselves), driving around in their old Ford or Willy's Jeeps, Dodge Weapons Carrier trucks and Ambulances, and Harley Davidson motorcycles. There was a veteran's biker rally there, too, but nothing in that herd compared to a Harley with the simple flat olive drab green paint with a white star on the tank. And a holster for a rifle. I fell in love with the cute little jeeps, and have included that on my list of cars to get when I get to be an older guy with too much money.

I suppose I sound a bit 'sour grapes' about some of the trip, but the truth is, we had a grand time, were constantly amazed at the scenery, felt like we experienced something completely unique and larger than ourselves, and honestly, I think if anything, this tour made me want to go back.

View of Omaha Beach from the American cemetery.

These guns were fired during a 21 gun salute at the end of the D-Day ceremony. They sound a bit like professional fireworks and are terrifyingly loud. Kristin described to her Grandfather, a WWII vet who served in Italy, how loud they were. His response: "yep."

The white crosses marking the dead go on forever - the site of so many of them is sobering.

This mosaic is in the cemetery's chapel.

A couple of French naval ships and a Coast Guard ship could be seen just off-shore, and a couple of hardy old vets got out in a WWII vintage Higgins boat landing craft and waved non-stop at the cameras during the ceremony at the cemetary. A map showing the D-Day invasion. Red arrows are the Americans.

The above grave is for President Theodore Roosevelt's son, who died at Normandy. The other picture shows flags representing each country that was involved in the D-Day invasion.

Before the ceremony we were able to walk around and tour the grounds.

This was our view. Not that close to the action. If you look to the left of American flag, you can see President Obama.

Each of the four countries represented had a fly by. The US planes did a "Missing Man Formation" in honor of fallen troops.

Sweet ride -the new presidential Caddy, "Cadillac One".

President and Mrs. Obama + entourage leaving in Marine One.

We were standing pretty close to Marine One as it took off. We had to shield our eyes from all the dust!

We were able to make a quick photo stop at Mont St. Michel, a man made island created in the 11th century. This is one of the most famous landmarks in France and it has been a dream of mine to visit since high school. (I remember reading about it in French class) The island was used as a monestary until the 1800s.

We had to stop the bus because sheep were crossing the road. It was just like a movie!

When the tide comes in the lower parking lot floods. There have been many cases of cars/buses being completely ruined.

We were able to visit Pointe du Hoc (in between Utah and Omaha beaches). I was amazed to see that huge craters from the naval shelling of the area are still around. In the above picture, I am standing in one of the craters. 65+ years later, some of these craters are still 6-8 feet deep.

Ruins at Pointe du Hoc.

Craters still dot the land at Pointe Du Hoc, where the USS TEXAS and several other Navy ships conducted shore bombardment and planes flying overhead pounded away. Other picture: Pillboxes at Pointe du Hoc.

Close up of the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc where the Army Rangers climbed up to destroy German guns. As you can see from the pictures, the Germans had an excellent view point and could see the Americans coming from miles away.

The cliffs at Pointe du Hoc and the Army Ranger Memorial in the distance.

Tyler and Austin stand in front of the ruins of a pilbox. (Note the 9+ layers of reinforced concrete on top of the pillbox.) This circle was once home to a very, very large gun.