After an early breakfast on the third day we headed towards the coast of Normandy to visit the D Day Landing Beaches. In the planning of the D Day Invasion the Allied forces of Britain, Canada and the USA each had their own designated code named landing sites on the beaches of Normandy. Sword and Gold the British, Juno the Canadian and Omaha and Utah the American. On D-Day, the Allies landed around 160,000 troops in Normandy. 83,115 British and Canadian (61,715 of them British) with 24,970 on Gold Beach, 21,400 on Juno Beach, 28,845 on Sword Beach and 7,900 airborne troops, 73,000 American (23,250 on Utah Beach, 34,250 on Omaha Beach, and 15,500 airborne troops). Sword beach stretched from Lion sur Mer to Courselles & St Aubin sur Mer, Juno, the Canadian beach and Gold were along the stretch of coastline at Arromanches and Longues sur Mer, where there was a gun battery placement. Omaha beach from just past Port en Bessin up to Point Du Hoc and Utah beach was farther up the coastline near St Mere Egliese and stretched up towards Quettehou on the right side of the Cherborg pennisular. We visited Sword and Juno beaches where many British and Canadian troops came ashore and the Musée du Débarquement (D-Day Museum) near the beach at Arromanches, which is central to the D Day beaches. The museum depicts both the success of the Invasion but also the horror that ensued that day on all five beaches and the catastrophic loss of life. It was truly a humbling experience to visit those beaches and to read about the extraordinary acts of heroism that took place on 6th June 1944. A Memorial to the D Day Landings stands on the Beach at Arromanches. We all stood, looking out to sea, on that peaceful beach in a moment of quiet reflection, thinking back to that day in 1944 when it was anything but peaceful, at what the carnage and mayhem of war must have been like and giving a silent prayer of thanks to

all those fought and to those who lost their lives so that we could have freedom. We continued our tour of the beaches by going to Omaha beach next. This was the site of the first beach of the American troop landings. Omaha beach saw some of the worst loss of life during the Allied Invasion of Normandy. The official figure of 2400 casualties on that beach alone but many believe it was more. From there we headed up to Utah Beach. Whilst driving there, on the grass verge on both sides of the road were wooden crosses with names of soldiers and their units on them. We were told that the French villagers had put them there, honouring the spot where each person who died on the roadside, fell. We went to the little town of St Mere Egliese and the US Airborne Museum where many of the American Airborne troops landed on D Day. On the spire of the church hung a dummy in a parachute depicting an event on June 6th when one of the paratroopers that had parachuted in, got caught on the spire. The Germans left him hanging there for 24 hours before cutting him down and taking him prisoner. After another early start on Day Four we headed for Pegasus Bridge at Benouville that morning. The bridges at Ranville and Benouville that spanned the Caen Canal were recaptured in the early hours of the night of the 5th to the 6th of June 1944 by the British 5th Parachute Brigade, whose emblem was Pegasus. Code named Operation Deadstick, as part of the larger Operation Overlord, the British Parachute regiments and the Hosea Gliders took the bridges to cut off the Germans route to the coast during the Invasion. On the River bank at the side of Pegasus Bridge are memorial markers where some of the Hosea gliders crashed and the crews were killed. A few more feet and they would have crashed into the bridge  itself. Just on the right at the entrance to Pegasus Bridge is a small cafe where we had our lunch. The walls in the cafe are covered with pictures of the troops that took Pegasus Bridge that day. The Pegasus Bridge that spans the Caen Canal today is a more modern bridge, the original Pegasus Bridge is sited just down the road at the Pegasus Museum. France renamed Benouville Bridge, Pegasus Bridge in memory of this great military operation and of the bravery and heroism of the troops that participated and died in Operation Deadstick. The afternoon of Day Four took us to the town of Bayeux. A beautiful medieval town, probably one of my favorite places in France. Driving into Bayeux, where once the tanks rumbled along to liberate this pretty little place, there were quaint buildings, a stone bridge across the river, a watermill standing near the stone bridge with a working water wheel. A long straight road runs through the centre of Bayeux with much of it pedestrianised and lots of pavement cafes and restaurants. We went to the Museum which stands next to Bayeux Cathedral in the centre of the town. Housed at the Museum is the Bayeux Tapestry and we stood in line to see the tapestry which fills a complete room. It is in fact a narrative embroidery, about 68.3 metres (approx 224 feet) long and about 70cm (approx 20 inches) wide, of which 50cm (approx 13 inches) are devoted to the embroidery itself. From there we went to the beautiful Bayeux Cathedral. Our meal that afternoon was taken under one of the shades of a pavements restaurant, it had been really hot that day and we experienced one of the most forceful thunderstorms I have ever encountered. Although we were dry sitting under the large sun shade that the restaurant provided, the thunder and lightning was flashing and crashing and rain poured, it was one of those one off memorable moments of the trip. We had intended to go to The Bayeux Cemetery but the thunderstorm meant we had to cancel that on the Thursday, however on Friday our last day before returning home we did go to the Bayeux Memorial and to the Caen World War Two Memorial. This was a wonderful trip full of memories but more importantly it gave us the opportunity to pay homage to those of my parents generation who gave so much, many paying the ultimate price for freedom. We are forever grateful.

Part One - The Journey to France and Historic Wartime Sites

​

Picture Gallery - Part Two