We meet our Tour Guide Johnathan and our other guest on the tour George and started off on out tour with our first stop at Omaha Beach and saw some of the German positions along the shore line, it was so sureal to think of all the men that died on this beach trying to free France from the Germans. The history was amazing to learn and see. So many memorials along the way paying tribute to all the companys that came on D-Day and help liberate France. This memorial was to honor the 1st airborne unit.
Our next stop was to the American Cemetery. It contains 9,387 serivce men and women who gave their lives and the sobbering fact that I learned that was this cemerty only contains 40% of the total americans that gave their lives during WW2 and the other 60% were buried at home or not found.
After the cemerty we went over to Pointe Du Hoc to see the memorial that was created to honor the 2nd ranger battalion were they scaled these 100 foot cliffs under LTC Janes E. Rudder
Admiral Hall’s Intelligence officer remarked: "It can’t be done. Three old women with brooms could stop the Rangers scaling that cliff!".
RUDDER replied to General BRADLEY: “Sir, my Rangers can the job for you.
Next we stopped at this this beauitful littl french town called Sainte Mere Eglise were they have a famous church were an American paratrooper John steele landed and got entanged on the tower during the June 6th invasion. An actual mannequin of steele hands on the church tower still to commermorate his courageious jump. He was up on the tower for 2 hours and had been shot at and pretended to be dead. The Germans finally cut him down and captured him but later that night he got away from the Germans. Even though the companies weren't supposed to drop on this town, due to all the missed drops this town was the offically the first town liberated on the day of the invasion. We stopped for lunch here and ate some very yummy baguette sandwiches with Niel and Carolee along with our new friend George. After lunch we went over to the airborne museum and walked around.
We saw so many other things and learned so much in one day I wish I could write it all and post every picture. I believe by the end of our trip we had taken over 1,000 pictures! All I can say it was amazing and worth every penny and minute we were there!
We then made stops to see other memorials of other airborne me like Charles DeGlopper and were they defended a very important bridge from the Germans. Next was Utah Beach.
This is the place where the successful landing of the American Ivy Division (the 4th Infantry Division) occurred under orders of General Barton and General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. with others in the first attack wave at Utah Beach.
Utah Beach was the furthest west of the five beaches designated for the D-Day landings in June 1944. Located at the base of the Cotentin Peninsula, it was added by General Dwight Eisenhower to the original D-Day plan to ensure the early capture of the vital port of Cherbourg, at the north of the peninsula. Eisenhower realized that the Allied advance throughout Western Europe would require vast amounts of equipment and that the only major port that could handle this in the initial stages of the war was at Cherbourg.
Ryan was like a kid in a candy store all day and loved every minute. We loved it too but to Ryan this was a life long dream of his to see all the WW2 sites. He even brought home sand from Utah and Omaha Beaches.
We stopped by many other sites like aid station and German battery at Holdy, Heisville-general Taylor headquarters, but the most sobering for me was the Angoville Au plain Chapel.
A very moving place! Our tour here will first allow you to enter a 12th/13th Century church where two medics of the 506th, Bob Wright and Kenneth Moore took care of 80 German and American wounded for over 72 consecutive hours following the initial hours of the jump into Normandy.
Wright and Moore were honored by the residents of this small village by a Memorial, which you will see, and a recently installed stained glass window in this famous church in commemoration of their life saving efforts. You will enter into the courtyard of the farm where the colonel Sink, Commander of the 506th PIR, established his second CP. The "Easy Compan
This chapel was even bombed twice. The first mortar hit the roof and did little damage and the second mortar fell into the chapel from the roof, cracked the floor but didn't explode. It was a testiment to God watching over those soldiers! The other amazing thing was seeing two pews that were still stained with blood from those soldiers. The Stained glassed windows were amazing and beautiful.
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