Sainte-Mere-Eglise

Today we visited some of the D-Day sites.

The US memorial and cemetary just off Omaha beach has a splendid visitor centre showing the history and how the action took place. It was also quite moving seeing all those headstones, representing so many lost young lives.

The Blip is taken at Sainte-Mare-Eglise, where the US 82nd Airborne parachuted in to begin the offensive on Utah beach. This is a memorial to John Steele whose parachute caught on the church steeple and left him hanging.

We also saw the German gun emplacements at Longues-Sur-Mere.

For me the highlight was a visit to the British war cemetary at Bayeaux. It was so beautifully kept and all the headstones were planted in immaculate flower beds of English roses and flowers, just as if they were laid to rest in a piece of ground which will be forever England. It wa so moving and I couldn't help but think every Nation's leaders should be made to visit these war graves when they attain office. It might just stop them from committing any more brave young men to war.

Finally we saw the Bayeaux Tapestry, which apparently was made in England, probably at Canterbury. I didn't know that!