Our first view of the Omaha Beach area was beautiful and we stopped by directly on the way from Cherbourg in our rental car. There was a beautiful set of memorials to many of the Allied units and participants that had landed at the Vierville draw entrance and we walked through and read many of these monuments. Then we walked down the beach for quite awhile.
John and I felt we needed to give Dad some time alone to walk and reflect so we gave him some private space as he began walking down the beach and looking around. You could tell he was in deep reflection. After awhile he called us over so we rejoined him.
Dad wanted to take some of the sand back home with him so we had several film canisters with us that he began loading up with sand form Omaha. John and I also each filled up some canisters to bring home.
We walked up and down the beach for awhile exploring each draw and open space. In this Western section there were sidewalks and homes above parts of the beach since 1944 but it was still a fairly quite and serene beach and we were instantly impressed that things had not been overdeveloped over the 50 years since the landings.
The hills are still filled with bunkers, interlaced underground passages, and interesting artifacts. Its hard to erase the huge engineering efforts that went into setting up such an extensive German defense system and the scars that were also left from the liberating forces fighting their way off the beaches.
Next: Which Beach is It?
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