Florida Coalcracker Chronicles: Omaha Beach at Normandy

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Omaha Beach at Normandy

We woke up with anticipation in our downtown Paris hotel. We had to go to the train station to pick up our rental car - another first - as we would be hitting the local roads on the 150 mile trip to Normandy.

We cheated a little - we had an old GPS that had the maps of Europe in it. We would drive to Caen - the largest city near the battlefield - have lunch - and then explore the coast.

France has super highways - and they are good - except for the toll booths. All the cars must stop - pay tolls - usually using a regular credit card. This take extra time - especially that most of them were waiting for receipts. Some folks did not have cards that worked - which would hold up the lines. This easily added an extra hour to the trip. Also - for some odd reason - traffic would bunch up - and a jam would occur for no apparent reason - not near an exit - not driving into the sun - no wrecks - just slow down.

Caen is a pretty little city. There is an old Norman fort downtown - but we were on a specific mission - Omaha Beach.

Almost another hour of driving got us to Omaha Beach. There were 5 major beach assaults - Omaha took the worst casualties. This is where USA troops came on shore. I find the word - casualties ironic to describe dead or wounded soldiers. Nothing casual here. If I scratch a finger on a nail - it is a crisis.

If there is such a thing - the Omaha Beach Cemetery is beautiful. It is so well organized - so well manicured - and so peaceful. It sits right on the cliff overlooking the beach.

The battlefield was windy. Just miles and miles of very wide beach. The Americans coming ashore had to run across at least 1/2 mile of sand. I never saw a beach so wide - imagine what those kids thought. When they were in the wide open - the guns on the hillside opened up. Carnage. Cannon fodder. Death.

The Atlantic Wall - the row of forts and armaments that Germany build along the entire coast of France - was breached. It cost 1000's of lives. It is hard to take any good feelings from this place - just sadness. What a terrible way to die. Far from home - very little control of their destiny.

Over 9000 are buried in the American Cemetery at Omaha. We had a tour - there are no gift shops or restaurants at that museum - mostly screens - some artifacts. Except for 150 Stars of David there were over 9000 Latin crosses - each one exactly the same - with different names - each one made of marble - not polished. They were lined up perfectly - they did not seem one millimeter out of line - just like soldiers lined up for revellie.

We quickly moved down over the cliff to the beach.

It was windy - it was wide - the metal rip rap was long hauled away. The sand was fine and tan - almost khaki. Foliage masked the pillboxes in the hills - that opened up like spider traps to reveal giant guns. This happened on all 5 beaches - really all one beach - defined by names of battles.

The troops were Canadians and British - but the majority were Americans - young Americans that never got to live a full life.

We hiked up the hill - back to the car - a few French pastries in the back seats made an effort to raise our somber spirits. My German ancestors lived in Deutschland long before this war took place - but that did not deaden the embarrassment I felt. Why did they cause this? Really why?

Our little black Hyundai I-10 - yes that is the model - was the perfect car for the winding trip along the coast east. We were getting used to the metric road signs - we even changed the GPS to metric reading. The road zigzagged through tons of resort communities - stone houses along the narrow road that were there before cars. It was a very warm sunny day in Northern France - and the people were out to enjoy the beach. I can't imagine swimming in water that cold with a 30 MPH wind - but they were. They were oblivious to the battlefields and the monuments from 70 years ago. It reminded me a bit of the people living in Gettysburg among all the statues in their front yards.

After driving all the way to Oesterham - through every farm house with their barns on the opposite side of the road - around every street party in the coastal breeze - every caravan camp ground - we settled into a nice little restaurant for supper and a drink. We set the GPS for an Ibis Motel in Caen - and for 65 Euros - had a great sleep - good shower - and free internet. Once I send this story - we will go downtown in Caen - have lunch - and start the drive back to Paris.