Historic, Beautiful, and Brave Normandy

We take the train from Paris to Caen. We chose Caen as a base because it seemed most central and to tell the truth all the groovy beach hotels were filled. Unfortunately, it's a three-day weekend, the Feast of the Assumption.

Soon after we arrive, we run into a wonderful French couple, the Thomases, who had just relocated to Caen and had once lived in the U.S. They not only give us a ride to our hotel, the Le Dauphine, but they invite us for dinner that evening. Before dinner we stroll along the ramparts of Caen Castle and watch the sunset. We dine in the charming Vaugueaux District of Caen, an area of winding cobble stoned streets, restaurants and shops. Our dinner at a small seafood restaurant is quite good.

The next day guided by John Flaherty of Handmaid Tours, we visit the D-Day invasion beaches. After exploring Pegasus Bridge and museum, we try the British and Canadian beaches but they are so built up and crowded, we can hardly find a place to park. The area around Omaha and Utah beaches are not as built up so we are able to explore them, Pointe du Hoc and the surrounding bunkers with relative ease. We also reverently explore the U.S. cemetery at Colleville, which is shown in the opening and closing scenes of "Saving Private Ryan." We stop at a nearby British cemetery before visiting Utah Beach and its museum as well as the village of Ste Mere Eglise, which was featured in the movie, "The Longest Day."

We spend the whole next day at the Memorial Peace Museum outside of Caen. It is an incredible place and we are totally absorbed in spite of the crowds and the long wait in line. In the evening, we head back to the Vaugueaux District. We spend an hour or so just wandering around before we choose a venue for dinner. Afterwards, we accidentally run into the Thomases who are out after spending all day moving in, so we share a farewell after-dinner drink and recount our adventures of the previous two days.

Since I had spent four full days here in March of 2003, I point out to Tom that what we've seen is just an appetizer, and I hope he can make it back for a full meal.

Quick Tips:

I cannot state strongly enough that to see all the important sights of both medieval and WW II Normandy, you will need to spend at least 5 full days in low season and 6 in high season.

I strongly recommend that you read some D-Day materials with maps before you visit. So much happened on June 6, 1944 that it can be quite confusing absorbing the details.

I also recommend you learn a little about Prince William before viewing the Bayeux Tapestry so that you can make sense of the story it illustrates.

Unless you want to spend all day on the causeway, visit Mont St Michelle as early in the morning as possible.

Make hotel reservations far in advance in summer. This area not only attracts cultural tourists, it is a popular beach resort area. This is especially true if you want to stay in a seaside village.

Drink lots of Calvados, the Norman apple brandy.

Eat lots of mussels and clams, cooked in cream and white wine. They are raised here on Omaha Beach

I recommend hiring a guide for visiting the invasion beaches. It enriches the experience five-fold.

Best Way To Get Around:

You should expect to do quite a bit of hiking if you visit the D-Day beaches. You should also plan on exploring the cities, towns and villages on foot. That way you will get a real feel for these places.

If you are not going to use a guide, rent a car for exploring the invasion beaches and sites. There are parking lots near most of them. You will also need a car to visit the medieval sites unless you are on a tour. I rented a Hertz car. It was reasonably priced and the people were great. There are at least four car rental agencies across from the Caen train station.

The tram in Caen is a superb way to get around and is very user-friendly. The bus system is quite good also. You can catch trams or busses to all parts of the city right outside the train station.

There is an extensive regional train network that you can use to access most of the towns. Unfortunately it's not convenient for seeing the invasion beaches.

There are numerous locally based tours of both WWII and medieval Normandy. They offer the usual tour convenience at a price and with the usual wasted time waiting.

Taxis are available for both intra and inter city destinations. They are expensive as you might imagine.

We check in to the Best Western Le Dauphin, a lovely hotel, which is a refurbished Priory. I find that in Europe, at least France, Germany and England, Best Westerns seem to offer the best value - three star quality, reasonable prices and interesting venues. We are in the older section of the hotel so we do have to carry our bags up two flights of stairs. I understand the newer section has an elevator but lacks the charm of the older antique furnished section.

The clerk offers to help, but we realize the bags are bigger than he is so we turn his offer down and struggle up the stairs ourselves. Our rooms, though small, were very bright and pleasant. All the facilities in the bathroom worked as they were intended.

Our location is excellent, just a block from Caen castle and within walking distance of the City Center, shopping and the Vaugueaux tourist area. The tram and bus stops are half a block away.

Except for the manager, who was rather curt and cold, the staff was very helpful with advice on directions, parking, internet sites, shopping, restaurants and anything else within their ability to speak English and our ability to make our wants known with very little French. We choose to pass on the 10 Euro breakfast option. Best Westerns seem to have a breakfast optional arrangement unlike most other hotels in France. I suspect it’s a function of our room rate. We were paying about 50% of the published rate.

The restaurant has an excellent reputation but the night we wanted to eat there, it was completely booked for a private party. The bar is cozy and welcoming and we sampled widely from its excellent selection of Calvados. Parking was a problem as there are only a few parking spots and they are, as is customary in Europe, very narrow so getting in and out of the car was a challenge. There is a parking lot, across the street, guests can use but one must get up in the morning to feed the meter or move the car into the hotel lot which does empty fairly early.

I read some reviews of the hotel before writing this one and they are rather schizophrenic. Some people loved the place; some people hated it with very little in between. Tom and I loved it and I’d gladly stay there again. I recommend, though, using the internet to check prices as the room rate we were paying seems to have been quite a bit less than those on the hotel’s website and mentioned in other reviews.

We drive and discover it is very easy to find since it's just off the ring-road freeway (périphérique nord) in Caen exit (sortie) #7. We just follow the signs to the Memorial. The parking lot is packed but there is in a distant grassy area. Aside from the fact that it’s a holiday, I discover later that this is the second most visited museum in France after the Louvre.

The setting is beautiful and the building is impressive. Because of crowds, we stand in line for 30 minutes to enter the exhibit area. The exhibits are magnificent, covering the complete history of WW II including the pre-war events leading to the conflict and the phony war, the occupation, the holocaust and the liberation of Normandy and France. It puts the events of D-Day in a world-wide perspective.

The first section is a downward spiral walk tracing the destructive path Europe followed from the end of World War I to the rise of fascism to World War II. The design creates a bottleneck, though, because the linear set-up backs everyone up like a traffic jam on a road with no exits. One person’s interest becomes everyone else’s delay. Once through this area, though, things open up.

The lower level looks at how World War II was fought. It covers France during the war and is brutally honest about France’s failures and suffering - this in contrast to the WW II section of the Musee d’Armee in Paris. A large area is devoted to the global aspects of the conflict and the impact of industry and technology on the outcome. D-Day is covered by exhibits including a recently opened one of letters and diaries. A multi media presentation, “The Battle of Normandy,” creatively uses a split-screen to show the 70 days of conflict from both a military and civilian point of view.

In three hours we haven’t covered even half the museum so we stop for lunch in spite of the daunting queues. The cafeteria and restaurant have excellent food. After lunch, we visit exhibits covering the Cold War, and the “Hope Exhibit,” in the Hall of Peace. The arrangement is a bit confusing but the “Hope” multi-media presentation is wonderful. The next section of the museum celebrates the peacemakers in the Gallery of Nobel Peace Prizewinners.

The museum also displays remains from the NYC 9/11 attacks. They’re at the East end of the building. We are running out of steam but we find the energy to visit the U.S. Memorial Garden, The Canadian Memorial and the newly-opened British Gardens, inaugurated June 5, 2004 by Prince Charles.

In summary, I would compare this museum favorably with the Peace Museum in Hiroshima. The exhibits are impressive, well planned and artistic but the museum could be a little more user-friendly.

A normal ticket costs €18, but there are numerous concessions. Photos are not allowed.

Hand Maid Tours is owned and operated by John and Elaine Flaherty, who are English, but who have known France for many years and now live in Normandy.

I’ve used them twice: 3 days in March 2003 and 1 day in August 2004. John is the primary tour guide. Elaine fills in from time to time for large groups and oversees their bed-and-breakfast. They are both a delight to be with.

John identifies himself as a self-confessed obsessive about D-Day, bunkers, concrete, wine, and Calvados. With his long hair and all-weather sandals, he could be mistaken for an unreformed hippie. But contraire, he spent many years in the business world and studied oenology for years. Elaine teaches ESL, is a superb cook, and knows a great deal about local shopping and dining.

In 2003, John met my overnight ferry and we took off immediately for St. Mere Eglise and the church and museum dedicated to American Airborne units. We explored Utah Beach and its museum. John knows the director and, as I discovered, just about everyone else in the area. We also visited the famous hedgerows and V-1 rocket sites.

Since I was staying in the Flaherty’s 250-year-old house, Elaine prepared and served a delicious dinner followed by a few snifters of Calvados. The other 2 nights we ate at nearby hotels.

The next day was a blur. I know we stopped at the Village of Graignes, site of a massacre. We drove to Pointe Du Hoc, where American Rangers stormed the cliffs. We also drove the length of Omaha Beach, stopping at various memorials along the way. Next came the American Cemetery at Colleville. During the 3 days, we also visited a British and German cemetery.

We lunched at Port en Bessin a picturesque a fishing village. Afterwards we toured the British and Canadian Beaches, Sword, Gold, and Juno. Then we went to Longues sur Mer, which housed a German long-range battery and observation post. We finished up at Arromanches, saw the artificial British “Mulberry” Harbor, and experienced the 360° Cinema, which tells the story of June 1944.

The next morning we saw the Bayeux Tapestry, which memorializes the events leading up to William the Conqueror’s defeat of the British in 1066. We went to Pegasus Bridge, site of a glider assault on D-Day morning. We lunched at the first house to be liberated in France, the Café Gondree. We spent the rest of the day visiting remnants of the German Atlantic Wall, including a bunker John discovered and another bunker complex John was instrumental in restoring as a tourist attraction.

In 2004, John took us, in one day, to all five of the invasion beaches, plus the Pegasus Bridge, the American and British cemeteries, and St. Mere Eglise.

To find all the information you could possibly want, go to the Hand Maid Tours website or contact him at john.in.france@wanadoo.fr.

I think it’s impossible to write a review of the D-Day Invasion sites in 500 or even 1,500 words, so I’m positioning these two reviews as “Experiences.”

I have visited this area twice. In March 2003, I spent 3 days with John Flaherty of Hand Maid Tours exploring the entire area: all five beaches, the German bunkers and artillery batteries that constituted the “Atlantik Wall,” and the museums and memorials that are to be found throughout this whole area. I will write a separate review on the cemeteries.

In August 2004, I once again engaged John to give my friend Tom Trier and I a quick 1-day tour of the invasion beaches. We chose a holiday weekend, which was a mistake, but we still managed to cover a lot of ground. If you are interested, you can read my Review of Hand Maid Tours in my Normandy Journal.

Based on my experience, in planning a visit to the D-Day sites, I recommend that you either start at Utah Beach and work your way north and east or start at Sword Beach and work your way south and west. An ideal itinerary would be to spend 1 day at Utah Beach and its museum, visit the many gun emplacements covering the beach, and then travel to St. Mere Eglise, the first town captured on D-Day.

The next day I would start with the Pegasus Bridge and Museum, then visit the three British and Canadian Beaches, Sword, Juno, and Gold. The area is now very built-up, so parking can be a hassle. You should also visit Arromanche, overlooking the famous temporary Mulberry Harbor, which is still visible 60 years after its construction, and view the 360° Cinema on the battle of Normandy.

On day three I would start with Longue sur Mer, the artillery site overlooking both the British beaches and Omaha Beach. Then go to Pointe du Hoc, where the rangers scaled the cliffs to capture the heights, before exploring Omaha Beach and its many memorials. If you are American, give yourself lots of time to visit the American cemetery above the cliffs of St. Laurent sur Mer. It is the largest U.S. cemetery in Europe and takes time to fully absorb. I’d work in visits to the British and German cemeteries, as time was available.

To me, 3 days is a minimum amount of time to fully appreciate the scope of the invasion and the subsequent 70-day battle for Normandy. You’ll need another full day for the Caen Memorial Museum, plus at least 1 day to see the Bayeux Tapestry and visit Mont St. Michelle.

SWORD BEACH

This beach, at the east end of the allied landings, was taken by the British. Because of air and naval bombardment, there was little resistance and the British troops moved quickly inland and captured Hermanville by 10am.

There’s not much to see. Some of the bunkers have even been converted into houses and shops. In the port city of Ouistreham, we did visit the 52-foot concrete tower that served as a communications and fire control center and is now a museum. It is the only major part of the German Atlantic wall left in Ouistreham. Unfortunately, it was closed the day I was there, but I understand you can visit the generator room, the gas filter rooms, machine gun emplacements, the telephone exchange, radio communication room, and observation post.

PEGASUS BRIDGE

This is one of the most fascinating sites both because of its history and because of the museum and other memorabilia from the D-day landings. The original bridge across the Caen Canal has been replaced but is just down the road, at the excellent museum complete with bullet marks and bomb dents.

The museum also has a completely rebuilt Horsa glider, which was the type used in the assault. I could have spent half a day in the museum alone.

The airborne troop’s task was to secure the two bridges crossing the River Orne and the Caen canal at Benouville. The British decided to use six Horsa gliders, three for each bridge. The first glider carrying Major John Howard, whose bust is in a small park near the canal, landed just 60m from the bridge. The second glider landed 1 minute later 20m from Major Howard's glider. The third glider landed between the other two. I can’t imagine a more impressive exhibit of airmanship than that. They overran the German positions before they could react with the loss of only one soldier. The bridge over the Orne River was also captured, though not so easily. Not only had the bridges been captured easily, but they were intact.

The cafe Gondree next to the bridge was the first house to be liberated on D-day and is now owned by British Veterans together with Mme Gondree, who cooked us an incredible omelet for lunch.

JUNO BEACH

There is even less to see here than at Sword. Evidently the Germans thought the reefs out to sea would stop the Allies contemplating a landing here. Nevertheless, on D-Day the beach was strewn with obstacles to prevent landings, many of which were mined. The attack here was led by Canadians. They did not have an easy time of it because of rough seas and blocked landing areas. We stopped at a few of the many monuments in the area dedicated to Canadian Units. There is a Canadian cemetery nearby at Berny, which we did not visit.

HOBART'S FUNNIES

We also stopped and looked at some of the specially modified tanks, called “Hobart’s Funnies,” which the British had created to help in the invasion. They were named after their creator, Major General Percy Hobart.

We saw the Spigot Mortar, called the flying dustbin and able to fire a 40lb charge; the Churchill Crocodile, which was equipped with a flame thrower; and the Firefly, a standard Sherman tank fitted with the tried and tested British 17lb gun and the only Allied tank capable of dueling with a German Tiger with any chance of success.

GOLD BEACH

At Gold Beach houses are built clear down to the beach and seawall, so there is little to see other than monuments and memorial tanks. Because of heavy pre-invasion bombardment, there was little or no opposing artillery fire, and the sea wall was easily breached by British and Canadian troops with the help of Hobart’s Funnies.

By the end of D-Day, 25,000 men had been landed, and they occupied the beach area between Arromanches and Courseulles and later met up with the Americans, as well as capturing Port en Bessin. On June 8th, work commenced on building the artificial port I mentioned earlier.

THE MULBERRY HARBOR AT ARROMANCHES

After the disastrous raid at Dieppe, the Allies realized that they were unlikely to be successful capturing a port in a frontal assault, so they decided to build two ports that could be constructed right off the invasion beaches and used until Cherbourg was captured from the land side. They were named “Mulberry.” Mulberry One was to be on Omaha beach and Mulberry Two at Arromanches.

While they were being assembled, an incredible storm appeared and pretty much destroyed the American harbor but left the British one intact. The British Mulberry continued to be used until November 19, 1944, a month longer than planned. Much of the structure is visible today from the cliffs of Longues sur Mer, in spite of the effect of being subjected to two tides a day for over 60 years. Interestingly, I noticed that at low tide I could see the remnants of the destroyed Mulberry at Omaha Beach.

LONGUES SUR MER

This battery that overlooks both Gold beach and Omaha Beach is unique in having its guns still in their casements. There is also an observation post about 200 yards in front of the guns, which I crawled into. As an interesting note, the bombing had destroyed the telephone cables linking the observers with the gun emplacements, so the Germans tried to use signal flags, but the smoke from the guns made the flags impossible to see. The gun crews finally fell back on the traditional technique of "creeping fire" and did little damage. The batteries were put out of action by naval bombardment and were easily taken on June 7th.

The first casemate we saw as we entered the site was from a post D-Day explosion, which threw the gun and its barrel out of the bunker and killed four servicemen. According to John, one of the soldiers caused the disaster with a lit cigarette.

My review of the American beaches is in a separate item.

As I said in the review of the British and Canadian Beaches, this is a story impossible to tell in 500 or even 1,500 words. For a suggested 3-day exploration of all the invasion beaches, see “The Invasion of Normandy – British and Canadian Beaches.”

UTAH BEACH

Utah Beach is the best-preserved invasion site because there has been little development near it. The museum here is outstanding, as are the memorials in the plaza in front of the museum. I walked the beach and found all kinds of interesting things, like one-man machine gun nests and other oddities.

On D-Day, the Utah Beach landings went almost perfectly according to plans. Not long after the naval and air bombardment began, all the major weapons defending the beach were out of action. The defenders surrendered to the Americans, led by General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. By midday, the invasion forces had linked up with the airborne troops near St Mere Eglise. On D-day, more than 23,000 men and over 1,600 vehicles landed here, and by midnight 23,250 troops were ashore with fewer than 200 casualties. Because of the diversity of regiments that landed here, there are many monuments to them dotted around the beach. All the roads leading from the beach and into St. Mere Eglise are named after soldiers killed here during the battle.

John Flaherty and I ate lunch at the Café de Roosevelt across from the museum. The owner has built a replica of an underground communications center, but he keeps it locked up because of vandalism and theft. We had to ask him for the key. It was worth the time and trouble to see it.

We also visited the battery at Crisbecq, which, I understand, will soon have a museum. We visited the battery at Azeville, too, which was one of the first built on this peninsula by the Germans. There is a small museum here that takes about 10 minutes to walk through. It took the American forces 7 days to capture this spot and Crisbecq. One of the most interesting sights is seeing the damage an unexploded shell from the Battleship USS Nevada did when it hit one of the casemates, killing everyone inside.

ST. MERE EGLISE

From Utah beach, we drove to St. Mere Eglise. Before the D-Day landings, it was decided that bridgeheads be established at both ends of the landing beaches. This would be undertaken by airborne regiments. At the western flank near Ste Mere Eglise, it fell to the Parachute Infantry Divisions of the 82nd (All American) and the 101st (Screaming Eagles).

The morning of June 6th, a house in the square that is now the site of the airborne museum caught fire. The inhabitants formed a chain with buckets from the pump in the square. At this point, parachutes were seen in the night sky and began landing in and around the town. It was the 82nd airborne division. The town was taken by members of the 505th Battalion. At 4:30 the stars and stripes were hoisted and St Mere Eglise became the first town to be liberated in France.

Another reason for the town’s fame came from the film "The Longest Day." John Steel, a paratrooper, played by Red Buttons, managed to land on the church and his chute caught on the steeple. He hung there while the fighting continued on the ground for 2 hours before being cut down by the Germans, taken prisoner, and later released by the Americans. I took a photo of the effigy of John Steel that can be seen on the church. Inside the church there are two stained glass windows, one shows the Virgin Mary surrounded by paratroopers and the other shows St. Michael, patron saint of the paratroopers. Both were dedicated in 1972.

GRAIGNES

One of the most poignant sites is the village of Graignes. Two battalions of American paratroopers were mistakenly dropped near this village. Helped by the villagers, they decided to resist, even though the town had no strategic value. They were finally overrun by 1,500 Germans 5 days later. Many escaped with the help of the villagers, but the wounded remained in the church under the care of the clergy and others.

Unfortunately for the townspeople and the wounded Americans, an SS regiment appeared and executed all the wounded and many of the villagers including three priests. The church was left in ruins and is now a monument to the fighting. There are plaques on the crumbled walls with the names of the villagers who were executed next to the names of the Americans who died under their protection. I had a hard time keeping my composure when I was there.

OMAHA BEACH

Perhaps the most renowned of the invasion beaches, it was featured in both “The Longest Day” and Saving Private Ryan.” Today it is a tranquil stretch of sand. Out on the tidal flats local people cultivate mussels and clams. Nowhere, except up on Pointe du Hoc, is there much indication of the chaos and slaughter that occurred on June 6th.

Looking at it today, you can see why it should not have been chosen for an amphibious landing. There are 6 miles of exposed beach with no natural cover for an attacking force, but this beach was necessary to link the other attacks at Utah and Gold. The weather was worse here, and many of the landing craft and amphibious tanks never made it to the beach. The Germans had the beach well covered with fire power, and there were only five exits and steep cliffs along the length of the beach. The first wave of Americans came ashore and were immediately cut down with machine gun fire. In the first wave, 80% of the American Infantry perished and over 1,000 Americans lost their lives in the first 8 hours. By the end of the day, a small bridgehead had been established, and fortunately there was no counterattack by the Germans. By the end of the second day, 3,000 soldiers were dead and a further 3,000 injured or taken prisoner.

POINTE DU HOC

The Allies believed this cliff, overlooking both Omaha and Utah Beaches, was home to six large guns. Guns that could have inflicted damage to the Allied ships at both of the American landing beaches, but the guns were not here. In April 1944, the Allies bombed the site and destroyed one gun. The Germans decided to move the remaining guns farther inland.

Pointe du Hoc today retains its battlefield character because of the destruction left by the rain of bombs and shells the Allies unleashed to neutralize this rocky point. This concentration of fire left craters and ruined Casemates, which 60 years hasn’t erased. The day I was there, children were playing in the ruins.

The monument to the Rangers who scaled the 100-foot cliff is off limits because of erosion, but it isn’t hard to imagine how difficult the task was. The slopes and ropes were wet, the tide was strong, and the Germans could drop grenades onto the heads of the climbing Rangers. Eventually the Rangers gained a foothold on the cliffs, but the remaining defenders were difficult to dislodge. It took 2 days for reinforcement s to fight their way to relieve the Rangers, and by then the force had been reduced to about 90 effective men from the original 640 who left the transports June 6th.

Directly above Omaha Beach is a large American cemetery, Colleville. I describe it in another review in this journal.

I believe I didn’t really absorb the significance of D-Day and its aftermath until I visited some cemeteries, particularly the American cemetery situated about halfway between Colleville sur Mer and St. Laurent sur Mer. In 2003, John Flaherty and I visited this cemetery and a British, a Canadian, and two German cemeteries.

There are 28 military cemeteries in Normandy, 16 British & Commonwealth, two American, two Canadian, one Polish, one French, and six German. John told me that over 130,000 servicemen were killed in the Battle for Normandy, most of them German. Until the First Gulf War, British war dead were always buried near where they fell, which explains the large number of British cemeteries. American families have the choice of bringing their loved ones home. As a result, less than 20% of those Americans who perished liberating France are buried here. The Germans were originally buried in as many as 1,400 locations around Normandy. These have been centralized into the six current cemeteries, which hold over 58,000 bodies. This does not count those in undiscovered graves, missing in action, or re-buried elsewhere in France or Germany.

THE AMERICAN CEMETERY AT COLLEVILLE/ST LAURENT

If you saw Saving Private Ryan, you would recognize Colleville/St. Laurent. The pine trees shown in the movie are on a bluff overlooking Omaha Beach, where so many Americans died.

The first time I visited I had a serious problem. I couldn’t stop crying for about the first half-hour. The place is set up to elicit emotion, with the long central walk to the chapel, the Memorial, and the Garden of Remembrance, whose wall is inscribed with the names of 1,557 servicemen who were never found and the perfectly aligned graves of 9,386 Americans who gave their lives here and whose remains their families decided to leave here. I did not have the same reaction when I visited other cemeteries. Maybe it was triggered by my recent viewing of Band of Brothers.

I finally did settle down enough to walk the grounds and help John place flowers on the graves he’s adopted as a member of Association Les Fleurs de la Memoire. One of the graves belongs to Sgt. Leo Flaherty, John’s namesake, if not his distant relative.

The Chapel, in the center of the grounds, is quite small and is intended for individual contemplation and prayer. The care given to the grounds here is beyond anything I’ve ever seen. Each day the graves are tidied up and any flowers or other debris is taken away. Each Italian marble grave marker carries the soldier’s name, rank, unit, and the name of his home state. All the crosses and Stars of David face the west, towards America. There are three Medal of Honor recipients buried here, including General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. We visit his grave and some others that John has information about. In 2004, Tom and I wandered around on our own, trying to take in the enormity of the sacrifices these and other Americans made to win WW II.

I count visiting this cemetery as one of the most moving moments in my life.

THE AMERICAN CEMETERY AT ST JAMES

I’ve never visited this cemetery, but John Flaherty assured me it is beautiful and worth seeing if time allows. St James is the smaller of the two American cemeteries in Normandy. Its 28 acres are on the border of Brittany and Normandy. A cemetery was started here just after the area was liberated in August 1944. The stained glass windows in the chapel show all the major battles fought in the liberation of Normandy. The cemetery contains the remains of 4,410 servicemen who lost their lives fighting in the area, including 95 “Known but to God.”

THE BRITISH CEMETERY AT HERMANVILLE

When we visited this cemetery, I learned quite a bit about how the British treat their war dead. All 16 of the cemeteries in Normandy are looked after by the British War Graves Commission, which has responsibility for all the Commonwealth graves in Europe from both world wars. The cemeteries also contain Germans who were originally buried here and never disinterred. As I mentioned earlier, it is the custom of the British Army that a soldier killed in battle is buried near where he fell, even in local churchyards. Each headstone has the name and rank and Regimental insignia of the soldier together with his age and date of death. A simple personal message chosen by his relatives is often included at the foot of the headstone.

Though Hermanville is one of the smaller British Cemeteries in Normandy, it is beautifully landscaped and contains a Norman-style chapel and visitor center as well as a Cross of Sacrifice, which can be found in most British military cemeteries. It is the last resting place for 1,005 Allied soldiers who fell in the battle to take Sword beach and the surrounding area. I didn’t have the emotional reaction I had at Colleville/St. Laurent, but I was still deeply touched, especially when reading the personal messages on the headstones.

THE CANADIAN CEMETERY AT BÉNY – RIVIERS

We only drove by this cemetery because of time constraints. It is beautifully situated on high ground overlooking the sea. It contains 2,049 servicemen who fell in the early days of the invasion. All but five are Canadian. I recommend stopping. I regret that we didn’t.

THE BRITISH CEMETERY AT BAYEUX

This is another cemetery we only drove by. It is the largest Commonwealth WW II cemetery in France. This cemetery is the last resting place for over 4,600 Commonwealth soldiers, airmen and sailors, and some of the opposing forces. They come from the United Kingdom and its Commonwealth, Poland, France, Czechoslovakia, Italy, France, Russia, and Germany. John filled me in on some interesting facts. For instance, at first glance, all the headstones look the same, but there are many differences depending on nationality. If comrades died together and could not be identified, because they died in a plane crash or a tank, their markers are placed together with two or more headstones, depending on the number who lost their lives.

THE GERMAN CEMETERY AT LA CAMBE

We visited two German cemeteries, La Cambe and Orglandes. La Cambe is the largest German Cemetery in Normandy, with 21,222 graves. At one time it was an American cemetery and the fallen of both sides were buried here in two fields by The American Graves Registration Service since the Germans were in no position to bury their own dead. After the war, the Americans interred here were either sent to America or to Coleville/St Laurent. In 1954, the French and Germans signed a treaty on war graves, and it was decided to re-bury all the fallen Germans in six cemeteries.

The German War Graves Commission (The Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgraberfusorge) accepted the task of identifying the last resting places of the German troops, who were buried in over 1,400 villages scattered over northern France. Unlike the American and British War Graves Commission, the German Commission is entirely voluntary and relies on gifts and collections to further its work. During the summer months, John told me, you can see German school children tending the graves. They volunteer to work with the Volksbund during their school holidays. It is one of the ways the Volksbund hope to promote peace. There is an interesting museum across the road from the cemetery entrance that illustrates what the Volksbund does and discreetly solicits contributions for its work.

Most of the graves have at least three bodies. John explained that the Germans say this is to show comradeship in death, but he adds that a more likely explanation is that after the war the French were reluctant to give the ground required for individual plots. Under the huge Maltese cross in the center of the cemetery lie 207 unknown solders, along with 89 who have been identified. I also learned that victims of the war in Normandy are still being found, even after 50 years.

As we drove away, I noticed hundreds of trees planted in neat rows. John explained that the Volksbund student volunteers plant many trees every year on the roads leading to this cemetery as a symbol of peace and the hope that France and Germany will never again go to war with each other--very impressive.

THE GERMAN CEMETERY AT ORGLANDES

This site was also a provisional cemetery for American dead and those abandoned by the retreating German Army. It contains 10,152 remains. Each grave site contains six or more bodies for reasons mentioned above. I no longer had to wonder how a cemetery with so many soldiers could be so small. It is very poignant to see a cross with the names of six soldiers on it. One grave, John showed me, contains the bodies of 22 German POWs who died loading explosives near Bayeux. Their remains were impossible to separate.

I hope these cemeteries helped the post-war healing process.