Battle day

1/20/10
Normandy day
Casie:
Picture: My Professor Hunt, me and Karen at Normandy Bay

“Before a war starts, it has long begun in the hearts of man.” –Leo Tolstoy

This quote was posted at the German cemetery Le Cambe. This quote is scary because it’s so true. The cemetery was not like most that I have seen. There were groups of 5 cross stones around the cemetery. They were carved out of darker black stone which created a somber and dark atmosphere. The groups of cross stones represented how they buried soldiers in masses.

We visited a Cathedral in St Mere Englise where an American paratrooper, John Steele, hung from the top of the cathedral overnight and miraculously survived. His parachute got caught on a steeple. Could you imagine? He survived a whole night and observed the entire war. He could have gotten killed up there. It’s an absolutely amazing story and a great testament to the war fought.

Another site we visited was a few miles inland along Normandy bay:
Longues sur-Mer batteries, which held German guns that could shoot for 6-8 miles long into the sea. The batteries are shelters that hold the guns. It was amazing to see how they have survived for so long. We climbed on them and got to see just how huge they were. I loved being able to see the sites. It makes the war experience come alive.

My favorite site was Omaha beach on our Normandy visit. It was the place where so many different countries came to battle. There were a total of 90,000 to 100,000 Americans, British, and Canadian troops on the coast of Omaha. It is about the size of my hometown of Wichita Falls. Each trooper had to carry about 80-90 lbs on their backs so others had to push them into the water. If the equipment was too heavy, men would drown in water about 4-5 feet high. I often hear about men dying in battle due to gunshots, explosions and sickness but never do I hear about men dying for reasons other than that such as heavy or malfunctioning equipment. It’s really sad.

I don’t know what is it about this beach that I liked so much especially since so many died there but there was a beautiful peace to it. Every landscape was just right. My friend Robert made a comment on how he took pictures of the rough brush and weeds on the slope from the beach to the top of the hill that was probably there in the battle. I then turned and took a snapshot of it too. It hit me that too often we see just the pretty Hollywood battles instead of the rough brushes, to say the least. Some men were bombed or injured and couldn’t make it all the way into shore and were swept away by the tide. Someone said that even though the movies make the soldiers look very tough, many of them are scared to death when up on the plane. Many threw up and were continually sick to their stomach. Who wouldn’t be?

This was one of my favorite experiences thus far.

Becca:
The Normandy Invasion day – another day that I was anticipating/dreading. I have always been a sensitive person, and the thought of actually seeing the place where so many people fought and died honestly scared me. If I’m being truly honest, this whole trip scared me. Thinking about seeing concentration camps, battlefields, and places where incredibly important political decisions were made scared me. How would I handle being exposed to something that serious? That unimaginable? That monumental? All of this has been so much bigger than, well, me, and really anything that I have had to encounter before. So today I had been preparing myself, not to be intimidated or afraid of how big D-Day was, but to see things that would touch me. And they most definitely did.

By far the most moving thing of the day was Omaha Beach. It was to believe that something so bloody and violent took place in such a beautiful place. Normandy is gorgeous, with pretty beaches and picturesque scenery, but around 100,000 men were involved in this battle. That blows my mind. I kept looking up and down the beach and up and down the hills, wondering how that many people were in one place at one time. I was awed.

Like the Battle of the Bulge, I had studied D-Day extensively, but for some reason, could not make it all work in my head. Traveling down the coast and up to Pont du Hoc, in which a miraculous attack was launched on the Germans (by a Texan) that should have been completely impossible, definitely helped wrap my head around at least the logistical part of the battle. I don’t know if I can say that I have a handle on the battle itself – again, I don’t think it is possible for me to understand the fear and pressure the troops were under at this time. I can’t even imagine.

Another amazing thing we saw today – the German cemetery at La Cambe. It was incredibly moving. Hunt thought that it was important for us to be reminded that it wasn’t just Allied troops that lost men in the Normandy invasion, and I think he is completely right. Not all of Nazi Germany’s troops knew what was going on in other parts of their country or to the Jewish people. Many of them did not agree with Hitler and his ideals. All of these men had families and parents and lives too. I walked down a row and looked at the names and ages of the men there. 24, 21, 18, 18, 18, 19, 18… so young. Both sides lost. Both sides made sacrifices. It was a very poignant day and I’m very grateful to have had the opportunity to experience it.