This photo I took of an information panel on part of Omaha Beach, one of five sectors where the Allied Forces landed on 6 June 1944. Mick and I visited it on our way to our house sit. This was known as the “Fox Green” section.

I was amazed at the beauty of the beaches in this part of France. Not unlike some of the beaches around the Great Ocean Road in South Australia.

The Normandy beaches have been left as memorials to the brave American, Canadian and British troops who freed France in WWII. But at a terrible cost. Surprising to me, the areas around the landing sites are places only for memorials, information and cemeteries. We did drive past lots of museums – more than eight – but we did not go inside any. We preferred to just visit and read about some of the history on site.

This column remembers 627 men who died trying to make it onto the beach on that morning in June 1944. They were up against some well-placed bunkers with a relative few (31) German soldiers with heavy machine guns. Amazingly, the Allies eventually took hold after many hours of fighting.

You can get a sense of just how far the soldiers had to come up from the water’s edge in these photos with Mick. In the distance, looking tiny, was a group of people on a tour of the area as well as a few carts propelled by sails (for sand sailing). I was surprised at just how far away it was and thought how terrifying it would have been to try and get up to where Mick was while being shot at.

This photo, with me in the shadow, shows the beach to the left – it is a very long beach. Omaha Beach stretches for 8 kilometres.

We then drove on to Pointe du Hoc – which was a stronghold for the Germans during WWII. Commencing on the 6th June, American Rangers scaled 30m high cliffs in order to eventually take this spot.  In preparation for this difficult task, the rangers trained on the Isle of Wight under the direction of the British Commandos.

I borrowed this image from ww.dday-overlord.com

A movie made in 1962 called ‘The Longest Day’ is about the taking of La Pointe du Hoc. Mick has seen it many years ago, but he is not a fan of John Wayne’s, who is one of the many big names in the 3 hour-long movie. But, perhaps it is something we should try to watch while we are here.