The Visual Impact of Memorial Day at the Normandy Beaches

Having just celebrated Memorial Day, we are reminded again of the great sacrifices made to keep our country and other distressed nations as safe and secure as possible. Although World War II exists for us as stirring battle portrayals in movies and books by participants and observers, it is still a story that we see from a distance. For my husband and myself, this changed recently when we visited the Normandy Beaches as part of a river cruise from Paris. It is true that when you actually see a place where war-changing battles occurred, the enormity of that time impacts you tremendously.

At the D-Day Museum in Caen, you can watch a short movie and see exhibits with pictures of how the pieces of the two huge artificial harbors were towed across the English channel, so they could be assembled on the French coast to land men, supplies and equipment for the Battle of Normandy.

You can then look out the windows and still see some of the wide concrete boxes at the surface of the sea on Arromanches Beach. It was an amazing logistical achievement that was accomplished during constant fighting.

At Pointe du Hoc, you can go into the German bunkers on top of the cliffs and look down at the beach where American Rangers fought to scale the towering cliffs to silence the German guns. No wonder the casualty rate was so high!

Above Omaha Beach, the American Cemetery at Courville-sur-Mer is a striking reminder of the more than 9000 American soldiers who died fighting in France. As you go from one historic battle memorial to the next, it is impossible not to be moved by the tremendous bravery, perseverance and sacrifice shown by so many before they died.

We were told that French children are taught about the Battle of Normandy in school, so they will never forget how they lost their freedom and how it was given back to them. Do we always remember to be so grateful for our own freedom?