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The Beaches of Normandy

Tim, excellent thread and thank you for the pictures. My family and I will be heading down there sometime in the next year or so for the same pilgrimage. We have an American cemetery close by in Cambridge that is very moving as well.

Barry
 
I wish I could say that I was there for a fun/vacation. The truth is I had to go down for work. They will dedicating a new monument at Utah Beach in September, and I had to put "eyes on" before I take my boss down there.

Tim
 
I went to a D-Day reenactment this past weekend. Around 300 reenactors set up and occupied Allied and German camps on the shores of Lake Erie. Saturday was open to the public. I was able to talk to several of the reenactors and learned a great deal more about the Second World War.

The actual reenactment lasted one hour and was very moving, to say the least. Allied troops landed on the beach amidst explosions and gunfire from the German defenders. Four replica P-51's made repeated strafing runs. As the battle progressed, the 'bodies' littered the beach. Even though it was a reenactment, watching one of the soldiers get hit brought both feeling of sadness and anger. A loud cheer from the crowd erupted when the German defenders were finally overrun.

This was only a one hour reenactment, yet all of the reenactors were soaked with sweat. The Allied soldiers looked like they had been through hell. I can't begin to imagine what the young men on both sides went through on that day in 1944.

As has been often, and rightfully so, said on CP - thank you to all the men and women in uniform who are putting their lives on the line in service to their country!
 
I visited the cemetery when on a France trip in High School. At 17 y.o., I could feel the somber weight although my mind couldn't yet grasp the magnitude of the events. I think we got a tour and some history, but none of that registered. It was so moving I only remembered to snap a couple pictures, compared to the 12 or so roles for the rest of the 6 days. Thanks for the thread, and the service.
 
Am glad these things are still in the minds of younger men, not just my own.

My family, like most Brits, were involved in a lot of the war effort, when not being bombed. One of my living great uncles was one of those evacuated at Dunkirk.

I've done a few tours as a kid, but am aiming to revisit quite a few of the beaches.

I'm currently 4 books through Churchill's 6 book World War II novel, and a lot of the events of the war are currently heavily in my mind.

I hope the continued re-education of our younger members of the world will stave us off from ever entering something similar again.
 
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