On the 75th anniversary, I thought we should have a thread.
A couple of years ago, I did the tourist thing, and went to Normandy, to see where it all happened. What they did with the site is amazing -- they did nothing. They left it as it was. A few signs and sidewalks and that's all. The German bunkers are there, and you can go inside and look out at the ocean and imagine what the Germans saw when they looked out and the ocean was filled with ships. The shell craters are there (now grown over with grass). Remember the movies you have seen where the guys are climbing rope ladders up the cliffs, and when they get to the top, there are Germans waiting for them with machine guns? You can stand on the edge of the cliff, and look down to see where those guys climbed, and you think "That's impossible. The American Ninja Warriors couldn't make that climb." Then you look back to see where the Germans with the machine guns were, and you realize, "Those sons of bitches were crazy. They were the bravest men who ever lived -- and died."
Omaha Beach itself is an actual recreational beach. There are some statues and monuments, but mostly it is young people throwing Frisbees and little girls putting sand into pails with shovels. When I first saw that, I was incensed. How disrespectful! In this hallowed place! Is that why all those men fought and died? So little girls could play on the beach with buckets and shovels? Then I realized -- oh my God -- that is exactly why those men fought and died, so little girls could play in the sand, with clear skies above and no worries in the world.
Then there were the cemeteries. When you first enter, you see an ocean of white crosses, and you are overwhelmed by the number. But then you keep going, and you see more. And more. And more. And endlessly more.
What an astonishing logistical operation. And what a massive display of bravery.
https://www.ibtimes.com/d-day-landing-sites-2019-normandy-beaches-1944-75-years-later-2798487
A couple of years ago, I did the tourist thing, and went to Normandy, to see where it all happened. What they did with the site is amazing -- they did nothing. They left it as it was. A few signs and sidewalks and that's all. The German bunkers are there, and you can go inside and look out at the ocean and imagine what the Germans saw when they looked out and the ocean was filled with ships. The shell craters are there (now grown over with grass). Remember the movies you have seen where the guys are climbing rope ladders up the cliffs, and when they get to the top, there are Germans waiting for them with machine guns? You can stand on the edge of the cliff, and look down to see where those guys climbed, and you think "That's impossible. The American Ninja Warriors couldn't make that climb." Then you look back to see where the Germans with the machine guns were, and you realize, "Those sons of bitches were crazy. They were the bravest men who ever lived -- and died."
Omaha Beach itself is an actual recreational beach. There are some statues and monuments, but mostly it is young people throwing Frisbees and little girls putting sand into pails with shovels. When I first saw that, I was incensed. How disrespectful! In this hallowed place! Is that why all those men fought and died? So little girls could play on the beach with buckets and shovels? Then I realized -- oh my God -- that is exactly why those men fought and died, so little girls could play in the sand, with clear skies above and no worries in the world.
Then there were the cemeteries. When you first enter, you see an ocean of white crosses, and you are overwhelmed by the number. But then you keep going, and you see more. And more. And more. And endlessly more.
What an astonishing logistical operation. And what a massive display of bravery.
https://www.ibtimes.com/d-day-landing-sites-2019-normandy-beaches-1944-75-years-later-2798487
:clap: