It was a 6 hour journey from Warrington to Portsmouth due somewhat to the M40 being closed at one point and also the fact that as the ferry was only leaving Portsmouth at 23:30 I decided to travel via the west coast.
I arrived in Portsmouth at approx. 17:00 and spent som
etime firstly locating the ferry port (which ended up quite easy as all roads in Portsmouth seem to lead to the ferry's) and then spending some time around the harbour that has been developed into a rather attractive area with shops and cafe's.We departed Portsmouth on time and had decided on paying the extra for a cabin for the 9 hour overnight journey - well worth it...
We arrived in Le Havre at approx. 08:30 and was soon driving over the Pont du Normandie bridge towards Caen.
I had accommodation arranged for 3 nights in Caen which was only 30 miles or so from the Normandy beaches.
I had an agenda that basically consisted of seeing as much as I could as long as I was on Omaha at 06:30 on June 6th 2009, the time that the first wave of American 1st infantry Division landed on the beach... and weather permitting, be able to photograph the sunrise.
As this was a popular time of the year for visitors to the area the hotel was full to capacity and I was fortunate enough to sit down on my first morning to have breakfast and find that I was sat next to a young man of only 93 years that landed on Omaha at sunrise on the 6th June 1944 from the 1st Infantry Division (The Big Red1 ) as they were known.
His name was Willie and had been brought over by a couple of guys that had wanted to bring a Veteran with them to Normandy and who had only met Willie 2 weeks before after searching for someone who was both willing and able to make the journey from the US.
Willie had received a Bronze Star for helping some of his fellow soldiers off Omaha under heavy German fire through a mine field and he also had received 5 Purple Hearts during the remainder of the conflict.
Willie stayed until the end of the war the following year and refused to be sent home even though he was injured 5 times - one of which was when he was shot in the leg.
My first full day was spent at the American Cemetery at Omaha Beach.
It is somewhat overwhelming when you first walk up the small hill and the overlook the 9000 plus white crosses that seem to go on forever.
There was a lot of Soldiers from the American Army at the Cemetery when I was there. As President Obama was due on
the Saturday, I assumed that they were there as part of the security arrangements as well as to 
commemorate the landings.From the Cemetery there is a path that leads down to Omaha beach. I had some time on the beach and to try and imagine what they must have had to go through with the failed bombing missions and lack of shelling of Omaha beach meaning that the cover that was promised from bomb craters and the like was just not there.
From the waters edge to any sort of cover was a good 300 yards and with heavy back packs and the cold that they must have experienced being day break and being wet through when leaving the landing crafts, it is something that you cannot even try to picture.
Speaking to Willie at the breakfast table, I asked him what it was like to move up the beach on that morning and he said that as soon as you were off the landing crafts you were bombarded with bullets and mortars and it was everyman for himself to try and get up the beach to any kind of cover.
There was no modern communications as we have today and with the noise and confusion it must have been hell on earth.
On the morning of my second day, I asked if I could go along with Willie to the American Cemetery as he had not yet visited the site. I said I would like to take some photographs of him, but would keep my distance and give him some space as no doubt this would be an emotional time for him as this was his first visit back to Omaha in 65 years.
He agreed and we arrived at the Cemetery around 10:00.
What I wasn't expecting and I'm sure Willie wasn't expecting was the number of reporters and film crews that were there covering the events.
As soon as they knew who Willie was and what he had done he was swamped with questions and interviews from radio and news stations all over the world.
So much for me giving Willie space to view the Cemetery in peace...
With Willie (pictured on the right) not being the young sprightly man he was 65 years ago, after and hour or so I left him to have a sit down and to arrange his meeting the following day with President Obama that was being arranged at short notice by one of the radio stations that interviewed him and went off to spend some more time on Omaha.
Omaha is 6k long and in the afternoon I drove down to the other end of the beach and had some lunch in a small restaurant overlooking the beach.
This was the west end of Omaha beach and this is where the monument has been built in the sand in memory of those that gave their lives on that day and the days to follow.
Later that afternoon I spent some time at Pointe du Hoc where there were 6 gun emplacements that the Germans planned to use to bombard both Omaha and Utah beaches.
2nd Ranger Battalion where given the task to scale the 100ft cliffs and take the guns.
The guns had been moved days before but the Rangers were not told of this but the gun positions still needed to be taken to ensure that the Germans could not retake the area and continue to use it to attack the beaches.
Only when they scaled the cliffs and took the positions under heavy enemy fire did they get notified of this.
Not put off by this they then moved in land and found the guns and destroyed them using thermite grenades.
They then held the Germans off for 2 days until reinforcements came from Utah beach.
From the original 225+ Rangers, only 90 survived the 2 day ordeal.
What stands out when you visit this site is that there are 5 visible gun emplacements today (6 originally) and only 2 of these are now in ruins from the original shelling, but the amount of bomb craters is staggering, they are one after the other.
Its amazing how they only managed to hit 2 of them, or just very unlucky.
As President Obama was due at the Cemetery on Saturday 6th June, I had been told by some of the American Army staff that there would be a 10k lock down around the area when he arrives.
As such I spent the night of the 5th in my car on Omaha waiting for the sunrise and my objective for the trip to be there as the sun came up.
My first couple of days in Normandy were sun filled, but as time went on there w
as more and more cloud build up and when daybreak arrived the sky was overcast and no sign of the sun on the horizon.I stood on Omaha beach with my camera and tripod pointing to where I was told by the local Gendarme, who came on the beach to see what this person was doing in the dark at that time of the morning, as to where the sun normally comes up.
Someone was on my side that morning because as I was about to give up and wander back to my car, a break in the clouds allowed the sun to come through.
I even had the added benefit to have some WW2 Army Jeeps and people in WW2 dress to walk across my photographs just as the sun was coming through the clouds.
To be honest that morning on the beach made my week...
The afternoon of the 6th was spent at Arrowmanches which is part of the British Sword Beach where there were celebrations and parades of Veterans and non- Vets in their well preserved and looked after WW2 vehicles.
There was a parade of what must have been 100 WW2 vehicles coming down the beach that afternoon with a modern Army Landing craft on the beach and the view of the remains of Mulberry Harbour in the background made for
an excellent day.The rain moved in late in the afternoon when the Veterans parade started and I managed to get some cover under one of the shop hoardings.
I can't say the same for the Vets - speaking to them the following morning at the hotel, they got soaked to the skin and some even had to have First Aid due to the cold.
Once the parade had finished I made for the car and got somewhat soaked myself.
It was at the time when Gordon Brown turned up at the Veteran Parade and obviously brought the British weather with him.
I missed his speech but from speaking to the Vets later, I didn't miss much... apart from him calling Omaha beach Obama beach and only correcting himself 3 sentences later...
My last morning was initially spent saying goodbye to Willie and some of the other Vets that were staying in the hotel...
One was a real character that had lots of good stories and lots of memorabilia with him that he had kept from the war including hand written map co-ordinates and even a small flower that he kept in a diary from 65 years ago - the flower was his most cherished possession from the whole of the war. Strange how such small things can mean so much to someone. He picked it as he was pinned down under heavy German machine gun fire and saw the small purple flower in front of him and picked it and placed it in his diary.
Another gentleman that I met was Rudolf Hess' guard at Spandau Prison.
The remainder of my last day was spent visiting Sword Beach, the British Cemetery at Hermanville.
I met a Veteran at Hermanville that was in the first wave at Sword and was part of a 400 strong group that were tasked with taking part of the town.
Come sun u
p the following day there were 180 dead including 60 officers.He was at the Cemetery looking for old friends...
There is something very British about the Cemetery the way that the graves are laid out with well looked after shrubs at the foot of each stone.
The odd pebble laid on top of some of the graves from what I can only assume came from Sword beach.
My final trip before heading back to Le Havre was to Pegasus Bridge at Benouville where the first shots were fired of the invasion and the first casualty fell on the bridge - Lieutenant Den Brotheridge.
There is a museum that houses the original bridge that was replaced to cope with modern traffic but still built in the original design (just a bit bigger)
The one thing that amazed me about that part of the operations on the 6th June was that fact that the 6th Airborne Division towed gliders over the Channel in complete darkness, released over the coast and then proceeded to glide in to the area of Pegasus Bridge at 00:15 and land only 47 feet from the bridge itself with no
modern direction finding equipment.Once they took the bridge they then had to hold of for a number of hours for reinforcements to come and assist them.
There is still bullet and shell damage on the original bridge and you can see where one of the men went back to aid one of an injured soldier and was killed trying to rescue him. There is a plaque on the bridge where he fell.
As you can see from the photo on the left the weather was moving in so I made a hasty dash back to Le Havre to catch the 16:00 ferry back to Portsmouth.
My trip to Normandy and the Beaches was something that I had promised myself for some years and now that I have done it I want to go back again.
There is so much history and places of interest that a few days is just not enough time.
I would suggest at least 10 days if you want to get to many of the places, and forward planning of where and what you want to see would be of great benefit. Something that I didn't do to be honest and it was only when I got over there did I realise how much there is to see and do.
It is a trip that I will be making again... whether I wait another 5 years for the 70th anniversary or if it will be sooner I don't know.
More time we wait before we go and visit these places and less Veterans will be there to share their stories and experiences.
Willie is 93 years old and he was 28 when he landed on Omaha.
Even if he was 18 years old when he landed on Omaha he would still be 83 years old today.
I think in the near future the Beaches and surrounding towns will not be the same with no Veterans parading down the street at Arrowmanches or moving slowly through the rows of White Crosses at the American Cemetery.
I'm glad to say I met some fantastic people and heard some great stories and hope they are still around when I go again...
If you want to see all the photographs from my trip click HERE
0 comments:
Post a Comment