I visited Omaha Beach about four years ago. The approach along the Avenue de la Liberation is flat, reedy ground, with low cliffs rising abruptly a couple of hundred yards either side. The monument to the 1st US Infantry Division sits at what I took to be the high water mark on the beach and reminded me of the prow of a ship. As I recall the inscription reads: "1st US Infantry Division. No mission too difficult. No sacrifice too great. Duty first. Forced Omaha Beach at Dawn, June 6 1944."
These were men indeed.
Had a drink at the bar near the monument, then paid my respects at the American cemetery. Would have liked to visit the main Overlord museum but needed to get back to Caen for the Portsmouth ferry. An intensely moving experience for me as an Englishman, for any American with an ounce of patriotism it would be heartbreaking.
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Been there. One of the most haunting and hallowed places I’ve experienced.
I visited Omaha Beach about four years ago. The approach along the Avenue de la Liberation is flat, reedy ground, with low cliffs rising abruptly a couple of hundred yards either side. The monument to the 1st US Infantry Division sits at what I took to be the high water mark on the beach and reminded me of the prow of a ship. As I recall the inscription reads: "1st US Infantry Division. No mission too difficult. No sacrifice too great. Duty first. Forced Omaha Beach at Dawn, June 6 1944."
These were men indeed.
Had a drink at the bar near the monument, then paid my respects at the American cemetery. Would have liked to visit the main Overlord museum but needed to get back to Caen for the Portsmouth ferry. An intensely moving experience for me as an Englishman, for any American with an ounce of patriotism it would be heartbreaking.
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