First Port - La Havre, France

After sailing all night, we landed in La Havre, France on July 17th. That was the pattern of most of the days. We would leave a port in the evening and sail all night to the next port. We didn't stay in La Havre though. We had signed up for a shore excursion to the Landing Beaches of Normandy. We had to endure a two hour bus ride, but it was well worth it.

Our first stop was at Musee du DeBarquement. This museum was built at the site where the British built an artificial port, which was an important part of the Allied success. This picture shows remains of the harbor still located right off the beach. This was interesting to me because I, sadly, knew nothing about this artificial port.

Sad to think of the tragedy that took place off these shores 67 years ago.
Our next stop was the American Cemetery, located on a bluff overlooking Omaha Beach. We entered the cemetery at 2:00 in the afternoon. On the hour, the Star Spangled Banner is played over the loudspeakers, followed by Taps. I can't express how moved I was to hear our National Anthem as I gazed out at the thousands of white crosses.
There are 9387 American military personnel buried in the cemetery, most of them killed during the invasion of Normandy.
There is also a Memorial Wall inscribed with the names of the 1557 servicemen whose bodies were never located.
Looking down to the beach from the cemetery.
After we left the cemetery, we drove to Omaha Beach. We saw this large stone sculpture, with the flags of the United States, France, England, and Canada flying alongside.
We were intrigued by this steel sculpture, Les Braves, done to honor the American servicemen. I would have liked to have seen it at high tide when the water covers the bottom portions of the sculpture.
Looking down Omaha Beach.
Our final stop was at the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc, a point of attack by the Army Ranger Assault Group.
I am glad we were able to go visit the Landing Beaches of Normandy. We weren't able to make it there from Italy, and it had been one of the places I wanted to go. My father served in World War II, and his brother was part of the D-Day Invasion, so I had heard stories from that era. I'm glad we have these memorials so we can always remember the sacrifices made by so many military personnel from so many countries.