Saturday, 13-November – Normandy Beaches

We got up very early for a long day of bus riding. It took 2 hours to get to the first bathroom break and then an additional hour to the first beach. In the process, we went through Caen, and saw the castle of William the Conqueror, the winner of the Battle of Hastings in 1066 which made him King of England. After that, we got very into World War II. Here is a Normandy Beach map from the restaurant we had lunch in:

We started at Sword and Juno Beaches and worked our way down to Gold Beach, where the British established a set of Caissons and sunken ships to make a place to supply the Allies, a similar setup was in Omaha Beach. We saw a movie on the topic. Apparently it was a joint British/US idea which had been underway since 1943. We had a lovely lunch there in the Gold Beach area, and then went to the US Cemetary.

There was a very moving ceremony where veterans in our group place a wreath. We then went to find the grave of the uncle of our friend from Kennebunk, Sandra Regan.

After the graveyard, we proceeded to Omaha Beach, and saw where the dead were initially buried, including Susan’s Mom’s cousin, George Eugene Poulin. He was reinterred in Manchester, NH when the American Cemetary was established.