Life Changing

Have you ever watched something in your life that stuck with you.  Made an impact in how you look at your life?  How you look at others?  With everything going on in the news today about the importance on standing for the American Anthem, terrorist attacks, war, fights, bombings, looting, and should I or should I not trust the police.  I feel that all of these things as a whole start to slowly impact not only my life, but my future children's lives.

When my husband joined the military I was happy, proud, and scared.  All of these emotions came from my thoughts on war.  When I was growing up history was not my best subject.  I knew the basics of the "major" events that teachers taught, dates of when things happened, and why; at least that is what I thought.

I have talked about taking road trips in my past blogs and that is what my family did.  On each trip it was history related even if it didn't start out to be that way.  Going to Gettysburg on the way to the mountains. Talking about what each president thought during their time in office.  These were things that helped me with history.  Seeing things first hand or asking the questions that I wanted too instead of raising my hand in class.

When my husband and I were going to Paris I knew that we both wanted to go to Normandy, France.  More specifically to see the Beach of D-Day.  Everyone has heard the history behind what happened that day.  You may have even the movie Saving Private Ryan which the first 25 minutes of the movie shows a glimpse into what really happened that day.  When the first wave of soldiers landed on Omaha Beach it was 6:30 am and all of the men faced a wall of gun fire.  Not only did they face this terror, they had bluffs as high as 120 feet and obstacles that placed over the beach.  These factors made it nearly impossible for them to get to cover and many lost their lives before getting off of the boats.  This is something that I could talk about all day, but unless we were there it wouldn't click just how bad it was.  Among the beaches Utah, Gold, Omaha, Juno, and Sword; Omaha was the beach that was the most heavily defended.  Even with all of that going against the soldiers by the end of the day they gained some ground.

Even typing the last paragraph I couldn't even believe this and how high the bluffs were or how much shore they had to fight to get cover.  I didn't understand until on September 5, 2016 when I stood on Omaha Beach walked out to the water and turned around to see what the soldiers saw when the boats pulled up.  The land has changed over the years, but the outline of where these events took place were still visible.

On Omaha Beach stands a memorial called Les Braves.  This memorial represents three different elements:
The Wings of Hope
Rise, Freedom!
The Wings of Fraternity

Looking at this monument, standing where men perished, and watching older generations just stand, does make this a life changing experience.

The day we were there it was raining, foggy, and cold.  It was fitting for the day.  People were still walking on the beach, a group in the water, horse racers raced down the beach, and people stood still and remembered.  The whole sight took my breath away and tears filled my eyes.

 These were the pictures that touched my heart.

The town was quiet since it was early.  It was the perfect time to go and reflect.  Taking the train from Paris to Caen was the easiest, then renting a car at the train station.  Omaha Beach is a very short drive and you get to see a lot of villages on the way.  You know that you are getting close when you start to see American flags, museums, old tanks, and more English speaking folks.

The American Cemetery is just a short drive from Omaha.  I would highly recommend going there.  This cemetery is 172 acres and has 9,387 American soldiers buried there.

Take a walk around look at all of the history that they have inside, then make your way outside to the Cemetery.

The experience that you will get by visiting will be unlike any other.  If you want to see more of the history look at the other beaches and then go to Pointe du Hoc.  Pointe du Hoc still has craters from where the bombs hit and bunkers.  This location has a lot of walking also, so just make sure that you know that going into it.  At Pointe du Hoc you can walk into the bunkers and get a feel for what it was like to be there.  The walk ways are mostly dirt and grass and is about a 10 minute walk from the parking lot.

There are reminders about the lives that were lost.

Reminders about what happened in those few days.

Never forget what happened that day.  With everything going on in our world today history is something that will always come full circle.  Maybe one day you will get to go to this "wonderful" place full of history.  

Remember the lives that were lost.