Today was the 69th anniversary of D-Day, and we spent it at Omaha Beach and the American Cemetery located just above the beach. I really don't know if I will be able to write very much about today. I might just let the pictures speak for themselves. We were so emotional and so awed by everything we saw that I just don't know how to explain it. All I can say is that it was our honor to be on such hallowed ground.
These were the first words to greet us at the visitor's center at the cemetery.
This is the infinity pool at the beginning of the tour of the exhibits in the visitor's center. It looks out over Omaha Beach.
At the bottom of the stairs and the beginning of the exhibits you see the Allied flags.
Some of the exhibits.
The exhibits also included several videos about the experience on D-Day and the men who didn't survive...
Text from the exhibits. They tell the story...
At the end of the exhibits was an almost empty white "Room of Sacrifice." All it contained were the pictures and bios of about 16 different men who died during the Normandy invasion. On the floor below the pictures are creamy beige stones.
The paper below was left on top of the stones under one of the pictures.
I couldn't even breathe after seeing this note. I don't know if you can read it very well on your screen, but the next to last line says these men were KIA in Afghanistan. No words can explain my emotions after seeing all of these exhibits and then ending with this.
The very last thing in the Visitor's Center was this...an upended bayonet with a dead soldier's helmet on top.
Then this is the final quote on the wall before we walked out into the cemetery, the "soil in which to bury our gallant dead."
This is the memorial at the front of the cemetery.
Notice the inscription to the right; it's had sand rubbed into the engraved letters to make them more visible in a photograph. Traditionally, when friends or family members come to lay wreaths on the markers, they bring a bucket of sand up from Omaha Beach below, rub it on the letters, and take the picture. This means a family member had recently been at this cross.
The Star of David marks the fallen Jewish soldiers.
The man on the right is a 92 year old veteran named Jim Martin. He was in the 101st Airborne, G Company that dropped in on D-Day; he comes back to visit Normandy quite often. Search for him online and you'll find multiple youtube videos on his visits.
I love this closeup of him. His eyes are so expressive. He saw me waiting respectfully to take a picture, and he nodded quietly and stood still for me. People all over the cemetery came to watch him place flowers on the crosses of lost paratroopers.
This was the quiet and peaceful Omaha Beach today. Much different than the tragic and heroic events of 69 years ago . . .
This is the Garden of the Missing behind the main memorial. The names of soldiers Missing In Action during the Normandy Invasion are inscribed on the walls around the flower beds. There are gold medallions next to a few of the men whose remains have been identified since the memorial was built.
Here is one of the many crosses that mark the resting places of unknown soldiers.
The last thing we witnessed was the 69th anniversary commemoration ceremony at the main memorial. I don't have pics of it because the tourists were kept pretty far away. But after the ceremony was over, we were able to wander up to the main memorial and see the wreaths that had been lain during the ceremony and the crowd mingling with dignitaries and veterans.
French Fusiliers (riflemen attached to artillery battalions) behind the ceremonial wreaths.
This last pic is from behind the memorial. The sculpture's title is "The Spirit of American Youth Rising from the Waves." I think that says it all about the heroic young men who risked and often gave their lives to save the world 69 years ago today. Thank you to all of them.
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