hi guys,
just got back from 4 days in normandy…
went to bayeaux and omaha cemetaries, saw a march past of all the vets at bayeaux…
stood on omaha beach, went to st mere eglise…
had an LCI driver give me first hand account of his landings…
and walked with a 6th airborne vet as he revisited pegasus bidge for the first time in 60 years…
my respect and admiration for these guys was, i thought, always of the highest: after the most moving 4 days of my life i’m completely lost for words, except perhaps, THANK YOU.
regards,
nick
ps i haven’t had a chance to look yet, so if there’s a thread with everyone’s thoughts already, then i apologise; i just had to get this down as soon as i got back.
i’d be interested to hear of other people’s experiences…
sounds like a moving experience. for me a trip to pearl harbor would be the same. i would see all the ships in their births as they were on that fateful day. the cries of the wounded, the smell of the burning fuel. it would be emotions that would rule the trip. i am glad you were able to experience the feelings of history associated with the area.
joe
One of these days I will go and see it… I am glad you got the opportunity…
Same here, soon. I’m glad you got to go.
I have had 2 customers that were 2nd and third wave respectivly into the invasion , they said little about it , nor did I push them for info about it , but the memory did really seem to bother them . They were both really nice guys, and we salute all of the veterans of that day ! [bow]
You lucky guy Nick, wish I could have made it there.
I hope while at Bayeux you got a chance to see the memorial to another famous amphibious assault that originated in Bayeux and ended in England. That being the Bayeux Tapestry that chronicles the Norman Landings in 1066. Awesome piece of work…
So…while at Normandy, did you make the run from the waterline to the bluffs? Just to see what it was like (at least in distance)?
Each time I go to a historic battlefield, I try to put myself in the shoes, boots, sandles, moccasins…of the participants and do something particular to that battle. Just to appeciate if only in spirit the endavor it took to do something like that. To look from the waterline at Omaha at the bluffs during low tide doesn’t look so far. Then you start to remember that the mg42 fires 700 rpm… chilling.
To be able to see the sites that we only read about adds a whole new meaning and perspective.
What an experience to have look back on in later years and to pass on to your kids. I am glad you had the chance and posted your experiences here.