I'm getting ready for my annual pilgrimage to Normandy for the D-Day commemorations, Anyone else hoping to make it ? This is the one day in the year that puts all of life's problems into perspective for me !
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I was there back in April, accompanying a group of Boy Scouts of America for their Normandy Camporee. As their guide, I took them to Omaha Beach (WN62) the evening of our arrival, and down to Vierville sur Mer the next morning at 0630, where they had a graphic impression of what the landings must have been like and saw first-hand the relics in the village's museum. Over the next two days, we visited Pointe du Hoc, the Airborne Museum at Ste. Mere Eglise, Utah Beach, the Brecourt Manor and Dead Mans Corner sites, received a private tour of the US Cemetery at St. Laurent sur Mer (where we raised the flags), the Musee Memorial de la Bataille de Normandie, and finished by driving through the Goodwood corridor to the Tiger I at Vimoutiers, passing where Rommel met his professional end just outside of Ste. Foy de Montgommery. As an example, the boys saw how fast the tide rises at Omaha and were visibly shocked when they saw the grave of a GI who likely drowned as the tide washed over his wounded body: they understood the horror at that moment. Their questions got progressively more nuanced as the three days went by, as they began to understand what it could have been like to be cold, filthy, tired, hungry, and shot at, whether German, American, or Commonwealth.... and they also began to appreciate how various pieces of fieldgear functioned, and the pluses and minuses of various weapons systems. They also got a very graphic understanding of armor combat as they were able to see for themselves what a period tank was like and how restricted its spaces and fields of vision were.
I've guided a number of people and prepared tours over the years and would like to think I have an above-average understanding of that campaign, having studied it and walked over it for 20 years or so, and this was a real highlight based on the feedback I got from some of the parents and their boys. I still get goosebumps every time I go back and try to see it through the eyes of history. -
I will be at Normandy 4 - 7 Jun 11 on a Officer Professional Development history tour with my unit. Our guide will be placing an emphasis on the Logistics of D-Day. Looking forward to going and having some fun.Comment
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I was there for the 60th. An absolutely fabulous time.Comment
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