Normandy - Day 2

Friday, August 13, 2010 Day 44
The next morning we checked out, left our luggage at the hotel, bought some croissants at a boulangerie and went to our rendez-vous point with a van which would take us on a tour of the American highlights of D-Day. The tour was conducted by a very knowledgeable and personable Englishman named Sean. He took us to various locations which were significant in the invasion, including the two U.S. D-Day beaches: Utah and Omaha, as well as the village of St. Mere-Église (where a U.S. paratrooper got his parachute hung up in the church steeple), a tiny church at Angoville where two U.S. army medical personnel (one a medic, the other a stretcher-bearer with one day’s first-aid training) spent two days treating the wounded from both sides. St. Mere- Église, Bayeux and several other small towns just inland from the beaches all claim to have been the first city liberated on D-Day. Bayeux managed to escape relatively unharmed from the fighting while other villages were nearly destroyed. We viewed the landing area from the beaches, from German bunkers, and from a hillside overlooking Omaha Beach in particular. It was a very interesting tour overall, made even more so by our excellent guide. At the end of the tour, we visited the cemetery where all of the U.S. soldiers are buried – about 12,000 in all. It is the only one for the Normandy battlefield – other countries have several cemeteries, but the U.S. consolidated all its war dead in one location after repatriating those whose family members desired it. The guide asked a trivia question: who was the highest-ranking U.S. officer killed in the war? Roger correctly answered General McNair – a Lieutenant General, who is buried in the cemetery. Also buried there is General Roosevelt (one star), who died of a heart attack in his sleep the day he was to receive his command of the division, which he had desired and actively sought for months. He was the highest-ranking soldier who landed in the D-Day assault with the rest of the troops. The only distinction on his cross was the notation that he received the Medal of Honor. He was Theodore Roosevelt’s son and a third cousin to FDR. His brother Elliot, who was killed in the First World War, is now buried next to him.

The cemetery is very egalitarian – when one enters it, one sees row upon row upon row of white crosses, a few topped with Stars of David. There are no names visible, only serial numbers at the bottom which are barely noticeable until attention is called to them. It is only when the viewer passes the cross and turns to look back that he sees the inscription upon the cross. With few exceptions the crosses contain only the name, rank, state and date of death of 9,347 American military dead, most of whom were killed during the invasion of Normandy and ensuing military operations in World War II. There are four women interred there, as well as four civilians, and 307 of the graves are marked “unknown soldier.” There are about 41 sets of brothers buried there, side by side. Otherwise, there is no rhyme or reason to the arrangement of the graves: officers are buried next to privates, those who died on June 6, 1944, are buried beside those who died much later. There is no grouping by state or by name or by rank or by date of death. The precision lay-out of the crosses in rows and rows would make a German engineer proud, but of course, none are buried here. Along a long, curved wall are etched the names of 1,557 soldiers whose bodies were never found. There are brass rosettes beside 13 of the names, indicating that their bodies were located after the wall was put into place. A 14th will likely be added in a couple of months, for a body was located nearby when a foundation was dug for a farmhouse, and the remains are undergoing DNA testing to determine their authenticity. It is a solemn place overlooking Omaha Beach, a fitting and beautiful location for the burial ground.

We took quite a few pictures, too many to put into my blog. They are available for viewing at http://www.flickr.com/photos/11200925@N07/sets/.