A lot of you have seen pictures of my trip to Normandy in April 2024 and have asked to see more images as well as some explanations of the trip. I’m happy to provide those here for you. There are a few words that I can explain the trip and one is, awesome! Another word would be unbelievable. And the third would be fun!
My son and I took the trip in conjunction with the Transatlantic Council of Scouting USA. The Transatlantic Council has all of the scout troops in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Every five years they hold a camp out on the bluffs overlooking Omaha Beach. It was a great way for us to meet fellow scouts from around the world, but also go to a bucket list destination for both of us.
One little bit of background about both my son and I is that in addition to being Scouts, we are also both World War II reenactors. You’ve heard of Civil War reenactments? They started doing World War II reenactments in 1979 and they became very popular in the early 2000s. We have been doing reenacting since 2019 and I’ve been taking him to various military events since he was a young lad. We combined our love of both activities into this trip so we camped in original World War II tents, sleeping bags, and equipment. We brought over as much original equipment as we could carry, and that was legal to have in France. France does not allow guns and we did not want to take things like helmets in our luggage. We even brought back over some of my dad‘s equipment. He fought with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team in Italy and France during World War II. I’ve written several articles about their famous exploits in this blog.
One little bit of background about both my son and I is that in addition to being Scouts, we are also both World War II reenactors. You’ve heard of Civil War reenactments? They started doing World War II reenactments in 1979 and they became very popular in the early 2000s. We have been doing reenacting since 2019 and I’ve been taking him to various military events since he was a young lad. We combined our love of both activities into this trip so we camped in original World War II tents, sleeping bags, and equipment. We brought over as much original equipment as we could carry, and that was legal to have in France. France does not allow guns and we did not want to take things like helmets in our luggage. We even brought back over some of my dad‘s equipment. He fought with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team in Italy and France during World War II. I’ve written several articles about their famous exploits in this blog.
A quick word about what makes reenacting different from cosplay (dressing as any character, i.e. a soldier) or Live Action Role Play (i.e. dressing as a soldier and "playing army"). Serious reenactors are concerned with teaching the history of the event and getting all the details of the person, equipment, and event as right as possible. It’s about teaching the history to the next generation. It is amazing the stories veterans tell reenactors. Spreading the stories of the veterans to the next generation so that people can learn their lessons and their stories can live on is what a reenactor does. It’s a responsibility that serious reactors like my son and I take to heart. So when we were wearing our uniforms around in France, we were very conscious of the fact that the actual people that wore these uniforms did the real things that helped shape history and we wore the uniforms out of respect to them. We were in no way attempting to steal their valor and made it very clear to everyone that we were reenactors (hence why I did not shave) so that people would understand that we were not pretending to be something we were not.
The uniforms and gear served their purpose as they became a way of starting conversations with locals and veterans and we got a lot of stories and information that we can pass on.
More on this later.
Now that the disclaimer is out-of-the-way,
one site that we went to was of course Utah Beach. It's worth noting that none of these beaches have a typical layout like we would consider for a beach that we would go swimming at. Utah Beach does have some sand but it is a narrow strip between land and the water. It is dune sand. So it is very soft. Omaha Beach only has sand at low tide otherwise the water comes up to the sea wall. There aren’t the cliffs and hills behind Utah Beach as there are at Omaha Beach. There are several large bunkers that commanded the approaches to the beaches that later became allied command posts and radio communication centers, or hospitals as the troops moved off the beach.
Looking trough a bunker machine gun port, preparing to raise a scout flag on Utah Beach, landing craft photo spot
Moving inland off Utah Beach are some of the more famous areas that the airborne troops fought in. One of them is the town of Sainte-Marie-du-Mont. This is where the 101st Airborne did major fighting before moving onto their more famous battle of Carentan. The church that the town takes its name after is still a functioning church. It is also partly a museum and that they have not fixed the battle damage from inside and it was where several German soldiers hid in the sacristy for several days because they wanted to surrender.
The church and it's stained glass. Look closely at the bottom of the coffin and you can see the bullet holes in the glass
The church and it's stained glass. Look closely at the bottom of the coffin and you can see the bullet holes in the glass
Probably the most famous town the airborne units fought in is the village of
Sainte-Mere-Eglise captured by the 82nd Airborne and the first town liberated in France. This is the town that very famously had two paratroopers land on the roof and get their parachutes wrapped up on the roof and steeple while there was a big fire going on that was being put out by the villagers. One of the troopers was able to cut himself down, but the other could not. His name was Jack Steele. To this day the church has a mannequin wearing original equipment and hanging from a parachute in commemoration of him. Even two of the stained glass windows of the church depicts the airborne landings. If you see the movie The Longest Day, it is the scene with Red Buttons hanging from his parachute while the battle rages. That is one of the movie fan fun things about going to Normandy. When you go to these sites, many of them you have actually seen before because the movie The Longest Day was filmed on these actual sites, so you can look at the village square and see how and where they shot the scenes in this particular town. There is also the sober realization that it wasn't a made up movie. Real fighting happened right where you’re standing and people were killed right where you’re standing. Like I said, the dichotomy of the trip was just amazing.
Sainte-Mere-Eglise captured by the 82nd Airborne and the first town liberated in France. This is the town that very famously had two paratroopers land on the roof and get their parachutes wrapped up on the roof and steeple while there was a big fire going on that was being put out by the villagers. One of the troopers was able to cut himself down, but the other could not. His name was Jack Steele. To this day the church has a mannequin wearing original equipment and hanging from a parachute in commemoration of him. Even two of the stained glass windows of the church depicts the airborne landings. If you see the movie The Longest Day, it is the scene with Red Buttons hanging from his parachute while the battle rages. That is one of the movie fan fun things about going to Normandy. When you go to these sites, many of them you have actually seen before because the movie The Longest Day was filmed on these actual sites, so you can look at the village square and see how and where they shot the scenes in this particular town. There is also the sober realization that it wasn't a made up movie. Real fighting happened right where you’re standing and people were killed right where you’re standing. Like I said, the dichotomy of the trip was just amazing.
My son's favorite picture from the trip, Jack Steele hanging from the steeple, and one of the stained glass windows showing the paratroopers landing in the town
Pointe Du Hoc are the cliffs were the American Second Ranger Battalion climbed ladders and ropes to get to the top of the cliffs to take out the German gun emplacements that were at the top. Pointe Du Hoc is located between Omaha and Utah beaches. According to American reconnaissance flights, it looked as if the Germans had installed heavy cannons at this location that could’ve easily shelled the troops on either beach or the ships out in the English Channel. The surprise was that the rangers got to the top of the cliffs and all of the gun casements were empty. The Germans had used various props to fake out the American reconnaissance planes to give the impression the guns were installed. The artillery pieces were actually located about half a kilometer away in an apple orchard.
The cliffs of Pointe Du Hoc and a casemate on top
When you go on top of one of the gun Casements that they built an observation platform on, you can look inland and see the whole surface is covered with bomb and artillery shell craters. It looks like the surface of the moon. Many of the craters are still 4 to 5 feet deep after 80 years of erosion. If they are 4 to 5 feet deep now, can you imagine how deep they were after the bombs and shells first hit that area! It’s incredible when you’re looking at this to see that anybody would live through it. Then you take a look at the bunkers and realize that they’re 4 feet thick of concrete and reinforce steel and wood and it is no wonder that they are still standing after 80 years.
Bomb craters and casemate
We were able to go inside some of these casemates and bunkers and it’s interesting to think about who was the last person to be in them during the war.
Many of them, after being cleared out of the enemy, were used by the American troops as observation points and radio communication centers to coordinate artillery support for the troops as they moved inland. You just get an overwhelming sense of amazement on this particular battlefield because it is hard to consider that soldiers climbed these cliffs with the enemy shooting down on top of them and they still did their job and accomplished the mission.
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More views of the cliffs, bunkers, and gun mounts
There are museums everywhere around Normandy. Almost all of them were started as private collections that grew big enough that the owners decided to shelter them into a building, which then became a museum. Most of the museums have similar types of equipment and vehicles and displays, however they also all have something different and makes them a little bit unique from each other.
For example in the D-Day Experience Museum they have a C-47 full size plane rigged up as a simulator that you sit in. The windows are all video monitors and the plane rotates back-and-forth and jumps with the turbulence and flack hits and makes it seem like you are in a transport during the airborne landings on the early morning of June 6.
Inside the simulator and next to General Gavin,
commander of the 82nd Airborne Division
The dioramas in these museums are second to none in how detailed they are. When you consider that some of these mannequins are custom made to fit the diorama and others are just off the shelf mannequins, the fact that they were all wearing and holding original equipment is outstanding.
Yet another museum is the operation overlord museum.
This museum has a ton of vehicles in it and a lot of artifacts that have been dug up since the invasion on display.
This museum has a ton of vehicles in it and a lot of artifacts that have been dug up since the invasion on display.
Panzer 4 tank, meeting a museum resident, Priest self-propelled gun carriage
A Stuart tank is parked outside Dead Man's Corner Museum because during the battle a Stuart tank was knocked out at this corner and a dead crewman lay on top of the tank for three days until his body was recovered after the fighting died down in the area. Until then he was used as a point of reference and that is how the corner got its name. The museum was originally the German headquarters in the area and a field hospital
Probably the most famous tourist attraction is Omaha Beach because of the ferocious fighting and heavy casualties. Also the more recent movies like Saving Private Ryan it is the beach and part of the battle that I think a lot of people think of when D-Day is mentioned. Like the other beaches, it is not a typical beach that you would usually go swimming at in the middle of summer like we think of how a beach should be. There’s no sand except for at low tide. The English Channel goes all the way up to the seawall. so when you stand at low tide, it’s roughly 200+ yards from there to the seawall that protects the land from erosion.
Omaha Beach panoramic from ankle deep water
My son and I stood in ankle deep water and he started at a full run and it took him 50 seconds, and he’s in shape, to get from ankle deep water to the seawall, and that was without anybody trying to shoot at him or carrying 100 pounds worth of gear and not having his zigzag through mines and artillery shells! The soldiers were dropped off in 4 to 6 feet of water. Even though they were getting killed right and left other reinforcements kept coming in wave after wave and they kept moving closer and closer to the seawall. There is no place to run on this beach. It is totally exposed and you have high cliffs overlooking the beach so you could be seen from any direction. It’s just amazing to think that the soldiers kept coming and coming through an impenetrable wall of bullets and explosions!
Finally after reaching the seawall the soldiers must’ve thought that they were safe, but then you look up from the seawall and you see that there’s anywhere from 100 to 150 foot cliffs and hills that you then have to fight your way through to get off of the beach. There were four main exits off of the beach. Each one of these was a trail between two other hills or some other low spot that was blocked by a large barrier. These barriers are eventually destroyed and the soldiers could get behind the German positions and off of the beach.
As an interesting little aside, I read an article recently that said that 4% of the sand on Omaha Beach today is still bits of shrapnel and molted glass from The explosions in the sand that blew metal into tiny little bits or fused the grains of sand into glass nodules.
My son and I stood in ankle deep water and he started at a full run and it took him 50 seconds, and he’s in shape, to get from ankle deep water to the seawall, and that was without anybody trying to shoot at him or carrying 100 pounds worth of gear and not having his zigzag through mines and artillery shells! The soldiers were dropped off in 4 to 6 feet of water. Even though they were getting killed right and left other reinforcements kept coming in wave after wave and they kept moving closer and closer to the seawall. There is no place to run on this beach. It is totally exposed and you have high cliffs overlooking the beach so you could be seen from any direction. It’s just amazing to think that the soldiers kept coming and coming through an impenetrable wall of bullets and explosions!
Finally after reaching the seawall the soldiers must’ve thought that they were safe, but then you look up from the seawall and you see that there’s anywhere from 100 to 150 foot cliffs and hills that you then have to fight your way through to get off of the beach. There were four main exits off of the beach. Each one of these was a trail between two other hills or some other low spot that was blocked by a large barrier. These barriers are eventually destroyed and the soldiers could get behind the German positions and off of the beach.
As an interesting little aside, I read an article recently that said that 4% of the sand on Omaha Beach today is still bits of shrapnel and molted glass from The explosions in the sand that blew metal into tiny little bits or fused the grains of sand into glass nodules.
The cliffs and bunkers overlooking Omaha Beach. You can see how the German soldiers could cover the whole beach and how steep the trails off the beach are
The National Guard monument on Omaha Beach is built on an anti-tank gun position. For those of you that have been to the war memorial building in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, you will notice a resemblance because the designers of the war memorial building based it on this particular bunker on Omaha Beach. Survivors of June 6 can get their names inscribed on a padlock and then that lock is attached to one of the screens on the pillbox.
The National Guard monument and locks of survivors on the monument
The American Cemetery at Omaha Beach is a powerful place.
My son described it very well in his Instagram post which I have reprinted here:
American Cemetery. Take a look. Keep looking. The rows feel as though they never end. It's hard to believe, but there they lay. It's gorgeous here and the world stops turning. But each stone is a soldier, each soldier is someone who came across the ocean to fight an enemy who threatened nations foreign to them along with their own home. To fight with honor and respect to return peace to a world that every day for years felt like there was none left. 9,388 of these brave men and women, in the name of delivering life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and peace to a broken world, never got to come home and see what every step they took would lead to when they fought on June 6th and the following days in 1944, now 80 years ago. May they rest well knowing that their sacrifice has led to a better world and may they and their stories never be forgotten. God Bless these men and women, and all that have fought to secure that piece.
Lest we forget what those that answer the call to fight do for us.
Lest we forget what those that answer the call to fight do for us.
The reflection pool and main American flag pole
Borrowing from my son's Instgram post again:
Longues sur Mer Batterie. What remains of Germany's massive coastal defense on the Normandy coast between Utah and Gold Beaches. 5 naval guns stood watch, ready to defend. The first bunker took a direct hit by an American Battleship and was completely destroyed 80 years ago. Forward of the guns are several bunkers including a massive observation post with a fully quartered lower level. The allies took over the battery and following the D-Day invasions using the bunkers as quarters and radio rooms.
Longues-sur-Mer Batterie is one of the few places that still has the original guns in place. You can explore the bunkers
There are two absolute take aways from this trip that I will never forget.
The Normandy battlefields filled me with a sense of amazement and an EVEN GREATER sense of admiration for what they did. You see how far they had to run and how high they had to climb, all the mistakes made, all the dead and wounded, and no one said "lets go back," or "we should find a new place to land that is easier." Those soldiers all had big brass ones and it is no wonder they are called the Greatest Generation!
The Normandy battlefields filled me with a sense of amazement and an EVEN GREATER sense of admiration for what they did. You see how far they had to run and how high they had to climb, all the mistakes made, all the dead and wounded, and no one said "lets go back," or "we should find a new place to land that is easier." Those soldiers all had big brass ones and it is no wonder they are called the Greatest Generation!
The other amazing fact about the trip was my son and I took at least 100 selfies with various French people. Young kids to older folks all approached us for pictures. We thought at first it was because we were in our uniforms and what better background to have as part of a picture of a World War II site than to have people dressed as World War II soldiers. What we quickly came to understand was that every single one of the people that stopped us to take a picture all thanked our country for coming to save theirs during the war. They thanked America for giving them their liberty and freedoms back. We explained that it wasn’t us, they said it didn’t matter. They wanted us to come back to America and tell everybody that the WWII generation have told their kids and their grandkids about what the United States did to save their country. Now that those people are all gone, they wanted us to know that they have not forgotten and still tell the stories of their liberation. They wanted us to tell other other Americans that they have not forgotten and still appreciate what America did for them. I guess when you lose your freedoms you appreciate them more when you get them back. I’m happy to share their message. You have to go to Normandy .
Just a few of the appreciative "friends" that we met
A Heck of A Nice Guy...and Humble WWII Reenactor
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