Saturday, April 13, 2019

It's fitting that I started writing this post on Memorial Day because today is the day we visited the Normandy beaches. We had to choose whether we wanted to do the American tour or the Commonwealth tour. We chose the latter. No surprise there. Samuel from yesterday was our guide again. He proved to be much more knowledgeable about World Wars I and II than he was about the city of Rouen. Our bus had mostly Canadians, four Brits, two Australians, and a few Americans. One of the Canadians was making a pilgrimage, if you will, to see the grave of his father who left for the war when this man was only 18 months old.

It was a beautiful day for our 11-hour tour. The canola was in full bloom and we passed fields of it. I took too many bad photos out of the bus window, with lots of glare and window reflection.

Our first stop was the Bayeux Museum to see the famous Bayeux Tapestry, which depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England and culminating in the Battle of Hastings in 1066. I didn't know much about it before, so I was surprised at the massive size and detail. It's not a tapestry at all but embroidery on linen, and is 20 inches high by 230 feet long with 70 scenes depicted. We were given listening devices and then entered an already crowded, long, dark room that housed the tapestry behind a dimly lit glass case. No photography was allowed but you can get a sense of it in this video. The piece is very detailed so everyone wanted to get up close and consequently we could only inch our way along the glass. It was probably commissioned by William the Conqueror's half-brother Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, and made in England a few years after the Battle. The detailed scenes provide valuable information about weaponry of the time, clothing, architecture, daily life, Viking ships, etc. The workmanship is so masterful that you see life and movement in the people and animals. It is in remarkably good condition. We came to the end of the room and I expected we were done only to find that the case curved around and went down the other side; in other words, we had only seen half of it at that point. Pretty incredible. I made a purchase at the gift shop, an eyeglass case with a scene from the tapestry on the cover.

After the museum we walked a short distance to the Hôtel le Lion d'Or for lunch. Bayeux is another medieval town with cobblestone streets and half-timbered houses. It also has a Norman Gothic cathedral, the Cathédrale Notre-Dame.

We boarded the bus again and headed to the Normandy beaches, site of the Allied landings of D-Day (if I take any longer writing this up, maybe I'll be posting it on June 6, the 75th anniversary). The five D-Day beaches, going west to east, were code-named Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword. We stopped at Juno Beach (Courseuilles-sur-Mer), where the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division landed (and suffered 50% of their losses in the first hour). We toured the Juno Beach Centre, Canada's World War II museum and cultural center. It's a wonderful museum honoring the Canadian soldiers who landed in Normandy in 1944. The building, designed by Canadian architect Brian K. Chamberlain, is shaped loosely like a maple leaf. In the first room, which is a simulated landing craft, we were shown a film that gave a sense of what was going on in the minds of soldiers and their families at the time--very effective and moving. The second room is dedicated to depicting Canada in the 1930s, before the war. The remaining rooms are devoted to the War, its aftermath, and Canada today. After that, we walked onto the beach and along Juno Park to see some German bunkers.

Back on the bus, we headed past more canola fields to the Bretteville-sur-Laize Canadian War Cemetery in Cintheaux. The graves of 2,872 Canadians, 80 British, 4 Australians, 1 New Zealander, and 1 French are meticulously maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Not a weed was in sight. A large number of the soldiers buried here were killed in July and August of 1944. Those killed in the early stages of the Battle of Normandy are buried in the Bény-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery near Juno Beach. We came to the Bretteville cemetery because the father of the man from British Columbia was buried here. (I wish I knew his name so I didn't have to keep referring to him as "the man.") The cemetery has a logbook at the entrance with the names of those buried and the plot number. With the help of Samuel, the man and his wife searched through the rows of grave markers to find his father. It was more difficult than you would think because of the layout and the confusion with Roman numerals, and it took a dramatic ten or fifteen minutes before they found it. Everyone was watching from a distance, torn between wanting to give them their privacy and wanting to show support. His wife took a photo of him standing next to his father's gravestone. I doubt there was a dry eye among us. I didn't expect this day to be as emotional as it was, even without this added event.

Our next stop was the Memorial Pegasus Museum in Ranville, dedicated to the 6th British Airborne Division. The mission they carried out before dawn on D-Day was to hold back the eastern flank of the German forces to prevent them attacking. To do this they had to capture two bridges, and destroy another two bridges and a gun battery. They did this by Horsa glider and by parachute. It was one of the most skillful and courageous operations of World War II, and more than 2,000 soldiers died (many of them are buried at the Ranville War Cemetery, our next and final stop of the day).

Horsa glider replica

Ranville was the first village to be liberated by the British. The Ranville War Cemetery "contains 2,235 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, 97 of them unidentified. There are also 321 German graves and a few burials of other nationalities." (from the logbook at the cemetery entrance). The adjacent Ranville Churchyard "contains 47 Commonwealth burials, one of which is unidentified, and one unidentified German grave." (ibid.).

Opposite the Ranville Cemetery

The Ranville Church and Churchyard

We returned to the boat later than scheduled and I think the crew forgot about us. The gangplank had been removed and we had to wait for them to set it up again. Also, we weren't welcomed aboard with the warm washcloths and special drink they always greeted us with. Alan and Lyn later confirmed that those on the other Normandy tour got both. The usual port talk awaited us, and then dinner. Dobo had our table ready and waiting.