American Cemetery, Omaha Beach: Oct. 18th

We enjoyed sleeping in Thursday morning. Ben was sweet enough to run to the grocery market and buy a baguette, brie and Gouda cheese, ham, mustard, chips and juice for our picnic lunch at Omaha Beach. We took the 12:00 bus out to the American Cemetery at Omaha Beach. It was a beautiful day to visit the Cemetery. We spent a couple of hours browsing around the Visitor’s Center which featured a couple short films on D-Day, large displays of military supplies, uniforms and letters, short biographies of the many heroes that fought on that historic day, and numerous of insightful facts and stories for our benefit.

We exited the center and walked towards the memorial and cemetery grounds which were absolutely beautiful. Behind the memorial was a vast wall honoring those bodies still missing from the Normandy beaches. The Memorial featured a beautiful statue facing the West and at every hour, “God Bless America” would play. In front of the memorial were the rows and rows of beautiful white marble Crosses and Stars of David – all facing the United States in the West. In the middle of the cemetery was a chapel. Omaha Beach and the vast English Channel were just north of the cemetery.
We felt an array of emotions that day at the American Cemetery. It was hard to believe that millions of young brave men of the free world sacrificed their lives to fight for the very freedoms we are fortunate to enjoy today. These men were our age, my brother’s age! We couldn’t imagine the thoughts that were going through their minds when they embarked on the shores of Normandy. We are so thankful for their courage, sacrifice and competence. We are so proud to be Americans – God Bless the U.S.A! We are also very thankful for the other liberators of Normandy – England, New Zealand, Australia and Canada. For 11 hours – they fought for our freedom, for everything the free world stood for.

An elder local French woman was kind enough to give us a ride back into town. She spoke some English and was a delight to talk to. She had kind smile and a warm voice. She was 18-years-old when D-Day happened. She told us that many French families tried to help the Liberators during that horrific time. She said almost all Normandy towns were destroyed and flattened during WWII. We could hear the sadness in her voice as she recalled these painful memories. But at the same time, she was so thankful for the Liberators. Without them, who knows what life would be like for her and fellow French people. We quote her, “Without Liberators, I most likely no live today. They saved us. Americans saved us. We probably would not be having this conversation today. I’m so happy to have met you.” That very moment, we understood how D-Day and the liberation of France have had an incredible impact on her life.

That evening, we headed out to one of the pubs in Bayeux. There, we were greeted by two friendly Maoris, Ivan and James, from New Zealand. They have been traveling around Europe following the All Blacks rugby team. Unfortunately, their team didn’t make it as far as they thought but it didn’t stop them from having a great time in France! We had a great time talking with them. They were big Bob Marley fans so we asked the bartender to play some of his songs which he kindly did; hence, we enjoyed the rest of the evening slamming down a few rounds of beers and jamming to good ol’ Bob. They reminded us of Ben’s Polynesian football teammates – they were loud, funny, ate a lot, loyal, very close and protective of their families and friends, and proud of their roots.

An awesome day :)