steve's blog

Started the day with another walk around Arromanches town square and the beach in front of the Mulberry remains before breakfast in the hotel.

Checked out of the hotel and headed for the American Cemetery at Omaha Beach not entirely sure what to expect. When we arrived we were amazed at the brand new visitors’ centre and were lucky enough to get a guided tour of the cemetery by a member staff with two Americans and two Australians. The guide explained the history of the cemetery and have an overview of the D-Day disaster on Omaha, but also managed to make the story of some of the soldiers quiet personal. Very interesting, especially seeming how high and overgrown the cliffs were – climbing them under fire and carrying equipment must have been quiet a feat. We then walked down the imposing cliffs to the beach and walked along to the remains of battery WN62, again quiet impressive with a number of overlapping gun positions, machine gun nests and mortar pits.

Next stop was the Pont de Hoc battery where the American Rangers assaulted the cliff tops from the sea below to take the guns only to discover the battery was empty and the guns had been moved back. The ruins of the bunkers and numerous bomb craters were pretty impressive gives a hint of how fearce the fighting and destruction must have been.

Finally we had lunch in Carentan before driving up to Cherborg for the ferry home.

Woke up this morning to a sunny day. Checked out of hotel and walked into Crepon to see the Green Howards memorial and read up on CSM Stanley Hollis who got the only VC awarded on D-Day.

We then drove to Bayeux and visited the British War Memorial which was very sobering. There were a couple of interesting tanks outside of the museum – a Sherman, M-10, Hetzer and Crocodile.

In a surprise turn of events, we then walked into Bayeux to see the famous tapestry. Very impressively presented in a darkened room with an audio guide to explain the story of William and Harold that the tapestry tells.

Amazingly, as we walked out of the room where the tapestry is displayed Dad asked “who painted the tapestry?” Dad, its a TAPESTRY, no one PAINTED it!

After lunch outside a bar in Bayeux we dove to the Longues Battery to the West of the British beaches. The large, imposing and damaged bunkers of the battery were exactly what we had all imagined they would look like.

Next stop was the Hotel Marine in Arromanches for check in before a trip round the D-Day Museum in the town square where we saw models of the Mulberry harbours and got an insight into what they would have been like when operational.

A road train ride took us to the top of the cliffs to the south of Arromanches where we viewed a 360 film about the invasion before walking back down to the town square for a look at the remains of the Mulberry and a beer before dinner.

Left the hotel in the morning and took a drive along Juno and Sword beaches getting a feel for the lie of the land. I’m struck by how big the area the Allies landed in is.

We then stopped at Pegasus Bridge to visit the airborne museum and crossed the new bridge to the Gondree cafe for a coffee. The Pegasus Bridge museum is probably the best museum we’ve seen so far in Normandy and it modern, spacious and very well presented. It was quiet something to see the original Pegasus Bridge preserved in the museum grounds.

Merville Battery was next viewing the remaining artillery bunkers and learning to the crucial Para assault with only 150 men into the battery. Very interesting and well preserved.

Took a drive east of Caen to get an appreciation of terrain for Operation Goodwood although the ridges and hills over looking the battle field were not as big as I was expecting – having said that, you can see how they dominated and why Bourguebus Ridge was an important objective. Drove across to Villers Bocage crossing over the Orne and past Hill 112. Got an appreciation of the terrain, although there wasn’t much to see.

Finally, back to the hotel for dinner via Creully with a visit to the 4the and 7th Royal Dragoons memorial.

I think the main thing that struck me about the afternoon’s drive how far inland the British advanced on day one. Not as far as some had hoped, but still quiet a long way.

The first day of my trip to Normandy with Dad and Philip.

Arrived in Cherbourg at 0700 on the Brittainy Ferries ship MV Barfleur after a bumpy night in a force 9 storm.

Drove down the Cotentin peninsular to Saint Mere Eglise and parked in the town square. Had a walk around, looked at the church steeple with parachuter John Steele on it and grabbed some breakfast.

We then drove to the Utah Beach museum, arriving long before opening time, so we went for a walk along the beach and looked at the various monuments and artefacts on display – Sherman tank, landing craft etc.

After Utah Beach we headed back to Saint Mere Eglise to look round The Airborne Museum. As we were driving back to Saint Mere Eglise Philip spotted a monument which we stopped to look at – turned out to be to the site of the Brecourt Manor Assault by Company E, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment as shown in Band of Brothers.

At The Airborne Museum we saw a Horsa glider and C-47 transport.

As we left Saint Mere Eglise we took a detour to look at the Manoir de la Fière, its neighbouring bridge and causeway over the Merderet and the Iron Mike monument to paratroopers. We also had a look at Major General Gavin’s foxhole by the site of the road.

We stopped in Isgney for lunch and then drove to Crepon and checked into our hotel – Ferme de la Rançonnière – a thirteenth century manor – very nice.

Dad and Philip had a nap and then about 5pm we headed down to Gold beach for a walk by the remains of Mulberry B at Arromanches. Very, very impressive.

By this stage the weather was getting windy and a bit wet so we decided to call it bad and headed back to the hotel.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped it at the Ryes British war cemetery – very sobering.