Normandy; The Beaches, Part 2, 2017
Reading about the invasion and seeing movies doesn't compare with being on the ground and seeing first-hand what the allies had to contend with on June 6. A guide can be a great help, both explaining what had happened and where, and streamlining visits to the beaches, the cemetery, and best museums.
We spent very little time at Utah Beach, where everything on June 6 had pretty much gone as planned for the Americans, with relatively low losses. This bronze depicts three Americans leaving a Higgins boat and advancing through on of the gaps in the embankment on Utah Beach.
United States and French flags fly near Utah Beach.
Gun embrasure at Gold Beach; it was deadly for British tanks until it was knocked out.
Turret from another gun embrasure at Gold Beach
Defensive barbed wire still crowns the high ground at Pointe du Hoc, where invading U.S. Army Rangers used ladders and ropes to climb a steep 100-foot cliff under intense fire.
Looking Northwest from Pointe du Hoc, where tangled barbed wire remains.
Gun embrasure at Pointe du Hoc
The gun enclosure atop the Pointe.
A good guide can explain on-site what was where and how things happened. Allan Bryson is one of the very best, articulate and knowledgable, and highly rated.
On-site, the immensity of the invasion, and the heroism of the men advancing into intense and murderous fire come through.
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After a lifetime of mainly expressing myself with words, my postings here will mainly rely on images. They will speak for themselves to some extent, but I'll usually add a few comments of explanation. I've taken photographs for decades, since the 1950's, inspired in part by my father's photographic skill. Four years of photo assignments and quality darkroom time eventually gave way to decades of casual and family picture-taking. I re-immersed myself when I left film and turned to digital.