Omaha Beach

[scottbombedout]

Originally Posted by Adam Chaplin

It's only ~175 miles from Paris, but the roads are a nightmare.

I was driving around Normandy in a friend's Renault, but made Omaha Beach my final stop before driving back to Paris. It was a bank holiday... that trip took almost 7hrs.

Normally there/back is an all-day trip with a tour company, I hear.

Scott - I would love to hear more about their voyage and their experience.

Wow, I have wrote a reply loads of times and deleted it. If this is long, sorry.

Their trip was fantastic. They are already planning the next one!
Some very sad photos that I can barely look at, with my Mum at her Dad's grave. She never knew him and has never grieved for him properly so you can imagine her emotions. All she remembered as a little girl was that he was never there for her.

Here was a young man who joined the Army in 1939 with his mates and probably didn't fully understand what he was letting himself in for.
As part of the British Expeditionary Force they came up through Belgium and were eventually forced back and evacuated from the hell that was Dunkirk.
Then came North Africa, then Italy and eventually the Normandy landings.
I can only imagine the feelings he must have had, coming onto a beach in a Country he had left four years earlier. Only to die a short while later...

The only things left to remind her of him is a photo in Army uniform and the letter from the Army Chaplain to her Mum explaining how he died. When I hold that letter, it is like electricity is running through it. It makes me tingle just to touch it.

Brings me back to my original post and why I felt so proud. Here were two women on a personal voyage. But they never forgot the sacrifice of others. They took the time to go, pay their respects and give thanks. Not only to the fallen soldiers, but also to the families left behind.

God bless them all.

[Seahawk]

Very well and powerfully written, Scott: Two angels among those who gave their last full measure...

From the Gettysburg Address: "It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion."

Originally Posted by scottbombedout

Wow, I have wrote a reply loads of times and deleted it. If this is long, sorry.

Their trip was fantastic. They are already planning the next one!
Some very sad photos that I can barely look at, with my Mum at her Dad's grave. She never knew him and has never grieved for him properly so you can imagine her emotions. All she remembered as a little girl was that he was never there for her.

Here was a young man who joined the Army in 1939 with his mates and probably didn't fully understand what he was letting himself in for.
As part of the British Expeditionary Force they came up through Belgium and were eventually forced back and evacuated from the hell that was Dunkirk.
Then came North Africa, then Italy and eventually the Normandy landings.
I can only imagine the feelings he must have had, coming onto a beach in a Country he had left four years earlier. Only to die a short while later...

The only things left to remind her of him is a photo in Army uniform and the letter from the Army Chaplain to her Mum explaining how he died. When I hold that letter, it is like electricity is running through it. It makes me tingle just to touch it.

Brings me back to my original post and why I felt so proud. Here were two women on a personal voyage. But they never forgot the sacrifice of others. They took the time to go, pay their respects and give thanks. Not only to the fallen soldiers, but also to the families left behind.

God bless them all.