D Day

French citizens dressed as American military at Omaha Beach

We have visited the D Day beaches several times over the years, drawn by the sacrifice and stunning success of the Allies there. The longest day began with British gliders in secret midnight landings near Pegasus Bridge, and planes dropping hundreds of paratroopers over the land, their white chutes like wings of angels suspended over death. Americans, Australians, English, Canadians, Welsh, Scots and others fought and died that day, struggling on the beaches and across the fields, up cliffs and into the woods and villages. They defeated the German army. They changed the world. And the French have not forgotten.

Nevertheless, we were astonished to see what awaited us on June 6 several years ago, when we took our then teenaged daughter and her friend to the Norman coast. Almost everywhere we looked, World War II vintage American jeeps passed us as we drove the local roads. Some were full of soldiers in WWII battle gear! When we arrived at the farmhouse B&B we were staying in, one of the same jeeps was sitting right in front of the old stone building. Were we time travelers?

American jeep in Grandcamp-Maisy

As it turned out, the jeep was owned by a nice British family. They are part of a subculture of WWII history buffs who take great satisfaction in collecting, preserving and restoring the old machinery, uniforms and kit of the WWII soldiers. After posing with their stern war faces for us, they let our daughter take the wheel (but not the keys!).

While I was familiar with Civil War reenactments in the United States, I was unaware of the full scope of the WWII reenactments in France around D-Day. Nor did I foresee the massive interest in American G.I. equipment I saw there. At the American cemetery, dozens of olive drab jeeps were parked, surrounded by reincarnations of mid-century American soldiers (not surprisingly mostly French, but some from all over Europe, it seemed). Later in the day, they would be taking part in the reenactments of some of the intense battles of D-Day. Our hearts were full as we watched them stand solemnly during the morning ceremonies.

Afterwards, we went to see the remains of a German gun battery in an area the French call "Le Chaos." The guns seem so futuristic still. Capped in reinforced concrete that withstood so much bombing, they stand like indestructible Art Deco clockworks facing the English channel with mute malevolence. 

Once these skies were filled with Allied bombers attacking the German positions along the green coast of Normandy.

France remembers.