Pointe du Hoc Normandy

We left Honfleur this morning and drove west to the D-Day invasion area of Normandy. First stop was in Caen to see the excellent WWII museum, then the American Cemetery at Omaha beach and Point du Hoc.

Our final destination took us back east a ways to Arromanches-les-bains which is right next to Gold, Juno and Sword beaches. …

We are so excited to be back in Normandy, this time for four whole days! Our last trip here three years ago was way too short to see and do all that there is to experience in this area, so we made sure to extend it quite a bit. After leaving our hotel in Brittany, we headed out to see several World War II D-Day sites in Normandy. We'd already been …

We visited the very moving American Cemetery near Omaha Beach where so many Americans were killed during the Normandy landings of WWII.

We had an interesting walk around the Pointe du Hoc. As part of the Normandy landings, a group of US Rangers had used rocket powered ropes and hooks and repelled/climbed up cliffs the Germans had thought …

Entry containing 4 photos titled: American cemetery, Arromances, British War Cemetery

After the museum, we took a ten minute drive through some tiny village streets, (in the huge coach bus), to the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial. This is where all of the American soldiers are buried who lost their lives during the D-day landings and and ensuing operations. The cemetery was established by the U.S. First Army in June, 1944, …

After leaving the cemetery, we headed up the coast to the beach memorial further along Omaha beach. The whole day was overcast, so we couldn't tell where the silver sky ended and the reflection of it in the sea began. I thought I would feel some sort of profound sadness standing there, in the place where so many have died; but all i felt was the …

... Germans were buried two per headstone. Contrasted against the US cemetery ... a very different feeling. Next, we stopped at Pointe Du Hoc. This field of destruction gives a taste of what that horrible day must have looked and felt like. Just crazy. ...

... a custard and drizzled with caramel. YUMMY!! Had that twice in 3 days too! After dinner we drove on up the coast to Pointe du Hoc. This is a place where 200 men scaled the cliff to secure this area of the coast - again with people shooting down on ...

... did that day. Many homes fly the Stars and Stripes outside their homes. We left Omaha Beach and drove further south to Pointe du Hoc. As you can see in our photos, we were alone here that afternoon. It only added to the surreal atmosphere and the ...

... Omaha beach. At the local museum, was a tank, so we took the obligatory photos, and found the next site. Pointe Du Hoc Ranger Memorial. Apparently, 225 American Rangers scaled the cliffs, overcame the odds and defeated the Germans here. They then had to ...

... the Allies ingeniously built a floating harbour to aid supply to the continent, viewed German gun placements at Longues Sur Mer & Pointe Du Hoc and visited the American War Cemetery at Collville-sur-mer. Say what you like about the Yanks but they sure ...

... of the D -Day landing (without any vocals ) which was very moving. The two beaches we visited were Omaha and Pointe du Hoc.The beaches were beautiful and it was sunny clear day so hard in some ways to image the conditions that existed ...

... events.  So we had some free time to visit some more of the sites from yesterday.  Our first visit was to Pointe du Hoc.  Just west of Omaha Beach it is known as the point where US army rangers scaled 100ft tall cliffs to assault a gun ...

... (the Big Red One) and the 29th (the Blue and the Grey) Infantry Divisions landing across the Banc du Grand Vey and east of Pointe du Hoc to the east at Omaha Beach. At Utah, the casualties of the invaders were light; at Omaha Beach, it would be a blood ...

... , determination, self-sacrifice, and desperation. If you've seen "Saving Private Ryan", you've seen how desperate landing at Pointe-du-Hoc was. The Americans, constantly bombarded by the Germans who had built case-mates on top of the cliff, had to climb ...

... drove about an hour or two to our hotel, dropped off our luggage, then went to one of the beaches of Normandy. The first beach we visited was called Pointe du Hoc. We were able to see a lot of the craters that were created from the attacks on D-Day, as ...