exlrrp
12-06-04, 15:49
I spent several days in Normandy last fall. This is the best reason to go to France, people are really friendly and helpful here to Americans
I drove the entire length of the D Day landings fom Caen and Pegasus Bridge to St Mere Eglise.I took this is stretches over 3 days, stopping to sightsee everywhere. (its about 50 miles from Pegasus Bridge to St Mere Eglise by road
I stayed in Port Au Bessin for 2 nights, its central to the scene. A pretty little unspoiled fishing village.
Pegasus Bridge anchors on the east--this is an important bridge that the Brits had to take to forestall an armor attack from the east. The book Pegasus Bridge by Steven Ambrose is the best book on this action and I advise to have it in hand when there along with Ambrose's D Day. The books you can buy at the bookstores have a decidedly French slant to them, even if written in English, you can tell they were written in French and transalated..
I went to the Ouistreham Museum. It was a fairly decent museum as museums go, it didn't stand out much. The eastern end was the British and Canadian beaches.-Juno, Sword and Gold.
I went to the museum in Arromanches--this was a much better one very large--wish I could post the pictures. I think it was the largest museum I saw, except St Mere Eglise. entrance to all the museums is about 7--10 Euros
I'm an American so the Holy Grail forAmerican military historians is Omaha Beach. I had to go there. It was spectacular and I advise everyone who is interested in seeing this to go as soon as possible because I have no doubt this will be built up within a generation. I walked the whole length of Omaha Beach, about 10 miles, climbed the bluffs.
You HAVE to do this! I'd read beaucoup books on D Day but untill you walk the fields, you won't know it.
I went to the cemetery at Colleville Sur Mer, you saw this in the opening and ending of Saving Private Ryan. Its a Holy place, not many places I go where I feel so reverent. This is just flat out one of the most beautiful places I ever saw, I was choked up the whole time there. It sits on the bluffs overlooking the center of Omaha, from there the view is spectacular, all over Omaha Beach
There's a fairly decent museum at Omaha Beach. They all have authentic stuff and have tableau with appropriately dressed mannikins.
All the museums sell scads od tourist stuff, tshirts, frigerator magnets, etc.
It took me 2 days to see all of Omaha Beach I wanted to see. Many of the old Concrete pill boxes are still there with connecting trenches. You can see what our men want through that day and it was a turkey shoot (for the Germans)
Best Advice: Have Ambrose's book: D Day with you when you go.
West of Omaha Beach is Point Du Hoche. This was the place where the US Army Rangers scaled the cliffs to take out a battery that was threatening the D DAy beaches. Turns out the guns were being moved right at the time of invasion but there was still one hell of a fight. This is the one place where they left allthe craters intact and it is something to see: Huge craters and house sized chunks of concrete tossed around like childrens blocks.
I was a US Army Ranger, yep, true fact, although I didn't know I was doing it at the time. I was a LRRP in Vietnam (Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol) A year after I left the service they waved the military magic wand and made all the lrrps into Rangers, reorganized the LRRP companies into the 75th Ranger Reg. All the lrrps went to sleep lrrps and wioke up Rangers. New NAme, new hat, same job, same pay(they were probably having trouble getting volunteers) So they grandfathered all the old lrrps into the Ranger organization--I'm a life member.
Old Airborne Chant: "I wanna be an Airborne Ranger, I wanna live a life of danger!" Been there, done that, got the Tshirt.
So there was a huge link for me standing there at Point du Hoche in awe.
These were some badass dudes and even to have a tenuous link with them was satisfying.
From Point Du Hoche, you drive southwest almost to Carentan before hooking north up the Carentan Peninsula. This was American Airborne country on D DAy, the 101st and the 82d were dropped all over here, behind Utah Beach. The Holy Grail here is the Airborne museum at St Mere Eglise--I said I was Airborne, didn't I??. This was one of the central towns to the Airborne invasion. The Airborne museum is huge, bigger than the Arromanches. They have a C47 AND a Waco glider in it for starters.
I HAD to see this place, for all the dropzones named St Mere Eglise. The D DAy paratroopers set the standard, they were our role models, and every paratrooper since then has probably wondered: How would I have done on the Big ONe. I think every paratrooper in the NAm thought that and I think most came out thinking like me: Ida done all right.
Thopse guys had some real cojones and I salute them across a generation--Airborne!!
After that I went to the Utah Beach Museum--they were starting to look all alike by this time, but this is an excelltn one with landing craft. There's an internet cafe right acorss the road too.
I think everybody who is even remotely intersted in history or just wants to travel some beautiful countryside should go see Normandy
James
I drove the entire length of the D Day landings fom Caen and Pegasus Bridge to St Mere Eglise.I took this is stretches over 3 days, stopping to sightsee everywhere. (its about 50 miles from Pegasus Bridge to St Mere Eglise by road
I stayed in Port Au Bessin for 2 nights, its central to the scene. A pretty little unspoiled fishing village.
Pegasus Bridge anchors on the east--this is an important bridge that the Brits had to take to forestall an armor attack from the east. The book Pegasus Bridge by Steven Ambrose is the best book on this action and I advise to have it in hand when there along with Ambrose's D Day. The books you can buy at the bookstores have a decidedly French slant to them, even if written in English, you can tell they were written in French and transalated..
I went to the Ouistreham Museum. It was a fairly decent museum as museums go, it didn't stand out much. The eastern end was the British and Canadian beaches.-Juno, Sword and Gold.
I went to the museum in Arromanches--this was a much better one very large--wish I could post the pictures. I think it was the largest museum I saw, except St Mere Eglise. entrance to all the museums is about 7--10 Euros
I'm an American so the Holy Grail forAmerican military historians is Omaha Beach. I had to go there. It was spectacular and I advise everyone who is interested in seeing this to go as soon as possible because I have no doubt this will be built up within a generation. I walked the whole length of Omaha Beach, about 10 miles, climbed the bluffs.
You HAVE to do this! I'd read beaucoup books on D Day but untill you walk the fields, you won't know it.
I went to the cemetery at Colleville Sur Mer, you saw this in the opening and ending of Saving Private Ryan. Its a Holy place, not many places I go where I feel so reverent. This is just flat out one of the most beautiful places I ever saw, I was choked up the whole time there. It sits on the bluffs overlooking the center of Omaha, from there the view is spectacular, all over Omaha Beach
There's a fairly decent museum at Omaha Beach. They all have authentic stuff and have tableau with appropriately dressed mannikins.
All the museums sell scads od tourist stuff, tshirts, frigerator magnets, etc.
It took me 2 days to see all of Omaha Beach I wanted to see. Many of the old Concrete pill boxes are still there with connecting trenches. You can see what our men want through that day and it was a turkey shoot (for the Germans)
Best Advice: Have Ambrose's book: D Day with you when you go.
West of Omaha Beach is Point Du Hoche. This was the place where the US Army Rangers scaled the cliffs to take out a battery that was threatening the D DAy beaches. Turns out the guns were being moved right at the time of invasion but there was still one hell of a fight. This is the one place where they left allthe craters intact and it is something to see: Huge craters and house sized chunks of concrete tossed around like childrens blocks.
I was a US Army Ranger, yep, true fact, although I didn't know I was doing it at the time. I was a LRRP in Vietnam (Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol) A year after I left the service they waved the military magic wand and made all the lrrps into Rangers, reorganized the LRRP companies into the 75th Ranger Reg. All the lrrps went to sleep lrrps and wioke up Rangers. New NAme, new hat, same job, same pay(they were probably having trouble getting volunteers) So they grandfathered all the old lrrps into the Ranger organization--I'm a life member.
Old Airborne Chant: "I wanna be an Airborne Ranger, I wanna live a life of danger!" Been there, done that, got the Tshirt.
So there was a huge link for me standing there at Point du Hoche in awe.
These were some badass dudes and even to have a tenuous link with them was satisfying.
From Point Du Hoche, you drive southwest almost to Carentan before hooking north up the Carentan Peninsula. This was American Airborne country on D DAy, the 101st and the 82d were dropped all over here, behind Utah Beach. The Holy Grail here is the Airborne museum at St Mere Eglise--I said I was Airborne, didn't I??. This was one of the central towns to the Airborne invasion. The Airborne museum is huge, bigger than the Arromanches. They have a C47 AND a Waco glider in it for starters.
I HAD to see this place, for all the dropzones named St Mere Eglise. The D DAy paratroopers set the standard, they were our role models, and every paratrooper since then has probably wondered: How would I have done on the Big ONe. I think every paratrooper in the NAm thought that and I think most came out thinking like me: Ida done all right.
Thopse guys had some real cojones and I salute them across a generation--Airborne!!
After that I went to the Utah Beach Museum--they were starting to look all alike by this time, but this is an excelltn one with landing craft. There's an internet cafe right acorss the road too.
I think everybody who is even remotely intersted in history or just wants to travel some beautiful countryside should go see Normandy
James