Normandy: American Cemetery

We stayed at this charming Bed & Breakfast just a few miles from the beach. The view, from our room, was beautiful that morning!! The beach was off to the left...

So adorable!! 

We headed to the American Cemetery. When we got there we saw a group of soldiers down on Omaha Beach and Brad's curious side got the best of him and we wandered down. The tide was really far out so you could see more of the rubbish that had been left behind from the war. Like a boat!? So crazy. 

These soldiers, it turns out, were a group of cadets from the military school in the United Kingdom. They had come to Normandy on a field trip of sorts. But, watching them on the beach made the events of D-Day even more realistic. They had all the cadets run out to the water, and roll around so they were drenched to the bone. 

They then, ran up the beach, while their instructors were shouting things like "air bomb!", "grenade!", "artillery!" to which the cadets would drop to the ground. The instructors would point to certain cadets and announce their death. The cadet would then stay put, while the rest of the cadets continued up the beach. This happened several times until they reached the top of the sand. 

At the end of the exercise, there were 3 or 4 cadets still standing (i.e.: "alive"). They had everyone stand up, turn around and see how many of their fellow soldiers would have been killed if this had been the actual D-Day and not just a reenactment. It was pretty neat to watch and see the reality of D-Day. 

After that, we headed back up to the American Cemetery...enjoying the beauty along the way! 

The grounds were beautiful and it was incredible to see how many men were buried there. There was mostly crosses, though a few Jewish stars were in the mix. You would often come across a grave that was labeled "here rests in honored glory a comrade in arms known but to God"

The Niland brother's are buried in the cemetery. They are the brother's that Saving Private Ryan is loosely based on! I did a report about that movie my Freshman year of High School, so it was neat to see that. Much of the movie is fiction but those brothers are most definitely real. 

This guy was in the Ranger Battalion so Brad wanted a picture of his grave. And it was neat to see a Medal of Honor grave. It was just interesting to walk around and see where all the men were from...lots from the east coast, so we would get really excited if we found a Utah or Idaho or Arizona. They weren't very commonly seen. 

There is a memorial at the front of the cemetery. We didn't spend too much time there, but after seeing what we wanted to see, we headed off to Pointe du Hoc!