Clearly Honfleur is quite close to St. Malo as we were
already docked when we got up in the morning.
We had signed up for the President’s Normandy excursion that was
scheduled to leave at 10:15. We boarded
one of five buses bound for the D-Day Beaches.
We drove about 1.5 hours to “ferme de la Ranconniere”, a
very fancy restaurant that serves food typical of the Normandy area. As we were driving there, we went through
Arromanches, right by one of the D-Day landing beaches. This was cool because it is where they
constructed an artificial harbor (from sunken boats and barges that they hauled
across the Channel). The streets of the
city were extremely narrow and our guide (who was absolutely excellent) talked
about how the tanks and other vehicles had to navigate as they were unloaded
from the transports. We didn’t have time
to stop, eventually making it to the restaurant.
The farmhouse was quite beautiful, made of stone, with
flowers and just a beautiful setting.
First course was a crepe (maybe galette although it seemed more like a
crepe) with vegetables and ham inside.
We thought that was quite an excellent lunch when they brought up the
second course. This was roasted chicken
in an amazing sauce, plus boiled potatoes and vegetables. It was great, but a
lot of food. The third course was a
mousse-like desert layered in three colors (much like Neapolitan ice
cream). Amazing, but a lot of food. After eating, we boarded the bus for the
coast. This was another 30 or so minute
drive.

We made it to Pointe du Hoc.
This was the location where the Germans had six 150mm cannon trained on
Utah and Omaha beaches. The idea was
that a small group of rangers led by Lt. Col. James Rudder would scale the
cliffs and attempt to take out the cannons.
After some false starts (the weather was not good and they mistook
another point for Pointe du Hoc), they eventually scaled the cliffs and took
control of the area. Interestingly,
there were no cannons. About 3 months
before the invasion, Field Marshall Rommel had decided to change the layout of
the fortification. The cannons were
being changed for 8 cannons in a different configuration (and more
fortified). The cannons had been
transported several miles inland waiting for the construction to be
completed. They were still sitting
inland when the Rangers attacked.
Alex in a bomb crater. We took this because we took a similar one when we visited the same area 18 years ago when Alex was 6.
We had just about 30 minutes to quickly see the area and where
the Rangers scaled the wall and then had to hop right in back on the bus. (This is a theme for the day, we ended up
trying to do a ton of things and rushing through them all). We then drove about 15 minutes to a small
shop/restaurant/hotel where we were scheduled to sample some of the locally
made cider. What Crystal had done was
arrange to have the D-Day Academy organization provide a number of actual World
War II vehicles that we could ride in.
There were jeeps, troop carriers, and even a duck. There were enough vehicles to hold 2 buses
worth of people, so while one group would go for a ride, while the rest of us
would do the tasting, and check out the WWII weapons, uniforms and other
paraphernalia. It was really, really
cool to get to actually hold the various weapons. Alex and Brenda clearly loved it (Bonnie and
Clyde style).


The only downside of this stop was that there was only ONE
bathroom (that is one) for all 200 or so guests. So, the line never seemed to go down. Eventually it was our turn for the ride. We were in the first vehicle of the convoy, a
troop carrier made by White Corporation.
It was 7 tons and had bullet proof glass. We piled in and drove down and along Omaha
beach while the driver told us what happened in that area on June 6, 1944. We didn’t get to stop on the beach (however,
there is nothing really to see other than the topography of the area, as it is
now merely a beach with houses and kids playing in the sand and water). It was totally
amazing and a once in a life time experience.
Brenda and Alex squeezed into the carrier.
Our convoy.
Omaha beach today.
Here we are in front of the troop carrier.
The plate in the troop car that we rode in.
After we finished that, we went to the American Cemetery
(which was fairly close). We got to hang
out for a few minutes waiting for the final group to finish up their convoy
ride and show up.
Once we were all
present, there was a ceremony at the monument.
The ceremony began with the national anthem and then a trumpeter played
taps. That was followed by Crystal
President Greg Michael and General Zinni who carried a wreath and laid it at
the base of the monument. A few moments
of silence followed. Then the assistant
to the Superintendent said some a small speech about remembering our fallen and
the ceremony ended. The whole ceremony
was amazingly moving.
We then had a few more minutes to hang out, until the flag
ceremony. They lowered and folded the
French flag (normally they fly two American flags, but since today was also a
French holiday, they flew both).
After that, we moved to the American flag and that was
lowered (to the playing of taps) and then folded. All of the veterans in the group (including
three or four that were WWII vets) helped to fold the flag and pose for
pictures.
Finally, Brenda had brought a medal from the Maine
organization of Greeters who meet the soldiers returning to Maine after their
service. She presented the assistant
Superintendent with the medal. He
accepted it and said that it would be displayed in their offices area (which
was being remodeled).
This is the wall of the MIA soldiers.
After that, we had
to head back to the buses for the long trip back to the ship. Again, we did not have any time to wander
around the cemetery and reflect on the significance of what we were
experiencing.
As we boarded the bus, we found out that one of the buses
did not have a working air conditioner.
So, after some false starts, eventually we were able to get the guests
on the broken bus spread onto the other buses for the trip back. That trip took us about an hour and three
quarters. We finally arrived on the ship
at about 8:15pm. We felt that it was a
very long, very rushed day. However the
experience was absolutely priceless.
That evening they had open seating dining, so we went in,
had another great meal and then hit the sack early (the only entertainment of
the evening was a show by the string quartet at 8pm).