Don’t Ever Forget…

When we were in France over the summer we drove up to Normandy to pay our respects to the soldiers that didn’t make it home from WWII. The American cemetery and memorial at Omaha Beach was very moving and educational — especially the beach. It was hard for me to imagine the soldiers making their way to the edge of the beach for cover.  It’s a very large beach and must have seemed endless to them. When you look towards the hill and to the left, you can still see the cement German bunkers that most likely housed the heavy artillery. It make you wonder how anyone made it back alive.

I highly recommend you visit this cemetery and memorial in France. You’ll have a new found respect for our Veterans and how they put their lives at risk to ensure we can lead the lives we do today.

If you want to know more about the Omaha Beach Memorial visit the government’s site  http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries/cemeteries/no.php. Here’s a snippet from the site explaining the cemetery:

“The Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in France is located on the site of the temporary American St. Laurent Cemetery, established by the U.S. First Army on June 8, 1944 and the first American cemetery on European soil in World War II. The cemetery site, at the north end of its ½ mile access road, covers 172.5 acres and contains the graves of 9,387 of our military dead, most of whom lost their lives in the D-Day landings and ensuing operations.”

Here are some of the pictures from our visit.

Looking up to the cemetery from mid-way up the beach