Leaky Charm: Normandy/Bayeux

Normandy 2019

This is a place I have wanted to visit since we moved to England, but for some reason we couldn't arrange a visit until now. Maybe because it wasn't an "easy" location to get to and a longer distance to drive than normal (6 hours) Our car is smaller and my kids have grown in the past 5 years. haha! And maybe we were supposed to wait to go until now...either way, we made it! What an amazing long weekend it was and I'm so grateful.

Goal: To honor and appreciate more deeply the many soldiers, civilians and leaders who gave their lives as the "future of civilization had trembled in the balance" so that we could be blessed with the freedoms we have today. (General Douglas MacAurthur.
Over 132,500 young soldiers and over 14,000 French civilians are buried in this reverenced area.
Outcome: Deep appreciation and gratitude

First stop: Bayeux

Bayeux Cathedral

Although Bayeux was not part of the Normandy tour, it was a place I wanted to visit. As we drove into town, we were privileged to see saw the ornate Bayeux cathedral and stopped to have a look as we drove into the town of Bayeux, (which also happened to have great macaroons) and most importantly, the Bayeux Tapestry.

This is a unique artifact created in the 11th century. My kids were all wizards as they recounted the story of the conquest of England, by William, Duke of Normandy (William the Conquerer in 1066) It shows the events of the invasion in a 70 meters long embroidery. We couldn't take pictures, but it was incredible. (That is 230 feet! - almost 2/3 the length of an American football field!)

Ahh the Four Core back at it again

We were starting our Normandy tour on day two, so off we went to the beach.
Beaches are my children's favorite place.
Low tides but great vibes!!!
There were amazing seashells in between the rocks and the kids played and played until we
couldn't see them anymore as the sunset.
Pointe du Hoc

This site is stark reminder of the beginning of the Battles of Normandy. It is filled with many deep craters from the bombs that fell there. This was a critical German outpost that was strategically attacked by US forces on June 6, 1944. U.S Army Rangers scaled the 100-foot cliffs and seized the German forces that could have fired on the American landing troops, which were coming in on both Omaha and Utah beaches. It came at the cost of many U.S rangers, but the US troops successfully defended the site against the German counterattacks.

Why was there a battle at Normandy?

To stop the Nazi movement west. If the Allied Forces didn't pull together (Britain, France, Canada and USA) against the Nazi's, Hitler would have had a massive advantage in continuing to move west and into England.

They had to be stopped. Why did the world get involved? When Churchill learned about the 4,000 men, women and children being brutally murdered in masses at Auschwitz-Birkenau on a DAILY basis, all attention was focused on how to stop the Nazi's.

While I was completely engulfed in the tour and tour guide, the kids admired the scenes in a different way.

Views from one of the bomb shelters at Pointe du Hoc

Our tour guide was absoluetly incredible. She had been studying the events of this area for almost 30 years. She knew every detail. It was almost overwhelming, but unbelievably well done.
Omaha Beach

The purpose of this part of the invasion was to secure the a beachhead of 5 miles. Very little went according to plan as the soldiers faces all sorts of obstacles landing and coming up the beaches. It took two waves of men and thousands of casualties. It was almost frightening to be there and see what they were up against and it was literally who could out number who. These men were SO valiant.

Les Braves Omaha Beach Memorial. On low tide you can walk out to the memorial. This memorial consists of three main elements. The wings of Hope, Rise Freedom! and the Wings of Fraternity

D-DAY USA Cemetery

D-Day Cemeteries in Saint Laurent. This cemetery covers 172.5 acres and contains 9,388 burials.

Each of the crosses or star of David had a name of a solider on it. If the solider was unnamed they would have a cross in their honour. They always tried to keep families together. There were only four women in the whole cemetery. I believe they were nurses.

It was absolutely incredible and humbling to see all these people who had died in these battles.

In the centre of this memorial is a bronze statue which is called, "Spirit of American Youth Rising from the Waves." Behind it, are the Walls of the Missing, which has 1,557 names inscribed.

Utah Beach

This was one of the five beaches invaded on D-Day. There were 2,499 casualties on this beach plus over 700 from other units. Fortunately the US was successful in getting their footing here as well.

There are no winners in war. What a tragic event and so many people died because someone else wanted power. But how forever grateful we are for those who went and did these incredibly difficult task.

As were the boys...

We attended church in Normandy and met the cutest Sister missionaries. Sister Sorenson encouraged us to drive to HonFleur...the sweetest French town. We totally loved walking around its streets.