Normandy is a quiet region in France with a sad and unforgettable history. First I will start with a small history of WWII and Normandy then I will explain our experience.

On June 6, 1944 the battle of D-day occurred. 156,000 troops stormed onto the beaches of Normandy but very few were able to walk off of the beaches and tell their families of the experience at the end of the campaign. The Allied troops who fought on D-day were mainly teenagers and young people who didn't know what to expect from war. The problem with the attack was the Germans had inhabited the beaches for up to four years, so they had already set up all kinds of mine fields, barriers and things that would make the battle almost impossible to win. Plus, the Allies had to run along an entire beach with low tide while being shot at by German soldiers and artillery guns. One advantage for the Allies was that they literally created fake bases, with fake people, food and even sounds to make it look like they were setting up a camp farther north, in France. Because of this the Germans thought they would attack another part of France, which was nearest to the fake camp. Also, nobody knew that d-day would happen except for the military leaders. In the end, this was the battle that changed the entire outcome of the war!Almost 12,000 allied troops gave their lives on the battles of D-day.

We took a car to Normandy from Paris. During the car ride we stopped in a small seaport town called Hanfluer. We ate lunch and looked around in the shops for a while. After that we drove the rest of the way to Normandy. Allie (my cousin) by the way was still with us.

When we arrived at the hotel we could not believe our eyes. It was a large white Chateau with at least six football fields worth of land, a swimming pool, and a tennis court. It was beautiful! Plus we had nice whether so we could play outside all the time.

The next day we went to the WWII museum. In front of the museum there were three tanks lined up. Inside the museum they had all kinds of weapons, displays and vehicles. It also gave a very detailed background of WWII. After the museum we went to the saddest thing I have ever experienced… the WWII American cemetery. First we walked around a building that gave us some of the stories of soldiers who had died or been injured in the war. There were also phrases all over the walls, for example; "We began the run along Omaha beach with 35 troops but when we reached the end point there were only 6 of us left". It was even worse when we got outside and saw over nine thousand white crosses all lined up perfectly. All the statues are placed so that they are facing west (towards home). The whole thing was sad and I could see that there wasn't a single person smiling out in the field with the graves. I think the worst part still was that on some of the graves it said, "A friend in arms lies here known only but to god". This meant that they didn't know the name of the deceased soldier buried at that spot (they are 1500 graves like this).There are also 38 sets of brothers buried in the cemetery.

Day three we went to a small Island that is still connected partially to France called Mont.-Saint-Michel. We walked around the small Island looking in the shops and restaurants. We climbed up to the top and took a tour of the monastery. We didn't get to see this but at certain times the tide from the surrounding ocean would rise and there would be no way in or out of the castle.

That night we had a little picnic out side were we had all kinds of exquisite French food like Ratatouille and casserole. It was delicious!

That morning we went horseback riding but it was another boring nose to tale ride where we did basically nothing at all. It wasn't very fun.

After the ride we went to the German cemetery. At the German cemetery the soldiers were buried 2 in each grave because there was not enough space for them to have there own. Also the reason there not back in Germany was because the Germans had just lost the war so they were out of money and could not afford it. In the center of the graveyard there is a statue of Mary and Joseph looking at the graves on top of a miniature sized hill.

Next we went to the German bunkers near Omaha beach. The Germans would hide in the bunkers and through a small slit in the wall they would shoot at the allies as they ran down the beach.We actually got to go inside of the bunkers and look through the small slits in the wall and we got to touch the artillery guns located in some of the bunkers. It surprised me that even though the Germans had all these bunkers and supplies, but they still lost!

The next day we had a guide take us down to Omaha beach and he gave us more information on the battle of D-day as we watched the waves roll buy in solitude. Then he took us to another beach where out in the water there were small docks that were just sitting there in the middle of the ocean. They looked like enormous pieces of a bridge that had some how gotten out there.

Stay with us on our Journey!

RS