Posted: 5/25/2015 8:52:46 PM EDT
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Can someone give me a link or coordinates for the American cemetery overlooking the Normandy beach.
I just can't seem to find it scrolling thru Google Earth. Thanks |
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OP, If you only take one trip outside the U.S. in your lifetime, it needs to be to Normandy. We visited the U.S. cemetery at St. Laurent in the early morning and got there just as the fog was starting to lift. It was a very moving experience for my wife and I. She knew how important it was to me and gave me as much time as I needed. We spent hours walking every row and seeing names of soldiers I had read about in Ambrose's books.
This trip needs to be on every arfcomer's bucket list. |
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Quoted:
OP, If you only take one trip outside the U.S. in your lifetime, it needs to be to Normandy. We visited the U.S. cemetery at St. Laurent in the early morning and got there just as the fog was starting to lift. It was a very moving experience for my wife and I. She knew how important it was to me and gave me as much time as I needed. We spent hours walking every row and seeing names of soldiers I had read about in Ambrose's books. This trip needs to be on every arfcomer's bucket list. Well said. If you get there in time for the ceremony when they lower the flag at the end of the day, and you're a veteran, you may get chosen to help lower and fold the flag. I did that back in 2010, and the thought of it still brings tears to my eyes. |
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Quoted:
OP, If you only take one trip outside the U.S. in your lifetime, it needs to be to Normandy. We visited the U.S. cemetery at St. Laurent in the early morning and got there just as the fog was starting to lift. It was a very moving experience for my wife and I. She knew how important it was to me and gave me as much time as I needed. We spent hours walking every row and seeing names of soldiers I had read about in Ambrose's books. This trip needs to be on every arfcomer's bucket list. Checked off the bucket list back in May 1998, my wife agreed to make a detour so I could visit Normandy. We boarded a train from London, boat ride over to Calais, rented a car and made the drive down to Bayeux, then to Omaha and Utah beaches. Arrived at Omaha beach around low tide, while we walked around, I could not get over the distance from the water until there was a berm or some sort of cover from the hills where the Germans were positioned. Point Du Hoc was interesting with the bomb craters and gun emplacements. Our final stop was the American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer. Personally, walking the grounds was a very solemn experience, it was a dusty experience to say the least. Prior to visiting Normandy I had read the books by Ambrose as well, the books provided historical detail that was helpful. |
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That would be my only reason to go to Europe.
I have done some travel(more than many, but not near as much as others). I stood on the Arizona Memorial on Memorial Day, 1990. I was only 18 and did not fully understand the scope of all those old guys with hats. Now I do. And with the greatest respect. |
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Quoted:
OP, If you only take one trip outside the U.S. in your lifetime, it needs to be to Normandy. We visited the U.S. cemetery at St. Laurent in the early morning and got there just as the fog was starting to lift. It was a very moving experience for my wife and I. She knew how important it was to me and gave me as much time as I needed. We spent hours walking every row and seeing names of soldiers I had read about in Ambrose's books. This trip needs to be on every arfcomer's bucket list. Have walked Omaha and climbed Suribachi. Need to visit more Pacific battlefields. |
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Have walked Omaha and climbed Suribachi. Need to visit more Pacific battlefields. Quoted:
Quoted:
OP, If you only take one trip outside the U.S. in your lifetime, it needs to be to Normandy. We visited the U.S. cemetery at St. Laurent in the early morning and got there just as the fog was starting to lift. It was a very moving experience for my wife and I. She knew how important it was to me and gave me as much time as I needed. We spent hours walking every row and seeing names of soldiers I had read about in Ambrose's books. This trip needs to be on every arfcomer's bucket list. Have walked Omaha and climbed Suribachi. Need to visit more Pacific battlefields. I wanted to do some Pacific battlefields, but it's complicated greatly by logistics and cost. |
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It's quite the view from the heights over the beach. http://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/13067/43011.JPG The most scenic shooting gallery on the planet... 
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Quoted:
That would be my only reason to go to Europe. I have done some travel(more than many, but not near as much as others). I stood on the Arizona Memorial on Memorial Day, 1990. I was only 18 and did not fully understand the scope of all those old guys with hats. Now I do. And with the greatest respect. Same here |
I took these at Normandy in 2004. I was there shortly after the 60th anniversary.
MOH Winner, General Roosevelt: 
Entrance to the German cemetery, one of the famous people interred here is Michael Wittmann, the tank commander from the SS. Visiting the Normandy cemetery, beaches and surrounding area, you get a real appreciation for the vast undertaking that those who landed at Normandy began. The distance from the beaches all the way to Germany is just mind boggling. You get a sense of surreal peace when you are just at the cemetery, the wind blowing, sun shining and all you hear is the wind in your ears. It is a feeling of being home, despite being in a foreign country thousands of miles from where you live. The grounds are very well maintained, its not flashy, but it is impressive in its design. A truly humbling experience for me. As an American who had family on both sides of the war, it is also a sad place. The German cemeteries are also really well done. In 2010 when I went back, I was at the bluffs at Pointe du Hoc and ran into a contingency of German soldiers in uniform touring the ruins of the Pointe. I talked to one of them and asked them about why they were there, what they felt and how they viewed it. The guy I talked to had a rather somber tone as he described how both of his grandfathers died, and that they are part of the German Army that gets assigned to the area and they maintain the cemetery at LaCombe (the German version of the Normandy cemetery). The difference between US and German cemeteries is apparent. The American cemeteries are light, open, bright, monumental in size, and very proud. The German cemeteries are darker with large oak trees, more reserved and they seem to be more tucked away. Both types are really well done and in their own right, fantastic to visit. Over 70 years after the end of WWII, you get a sense from the two cemeteries that much of the pain and hate from the war is gone. People travel to the German one even though they don't have a tangible connection. They aren't the black sheep that they have been in the past. 
I hope to return more and more in the future. It is humbling and awe inspiring to just be there and walk the same hallowed ground that once saw so much destruction. As for just visiting Europe to see Normandy, I'd recommend seeing more than just Normandy. There are a lot of different medieval sites to see. In Cologne, Germany there is an archway from the Roman era in front of the cathedral. I highly recommend traveling around Europe and soaking up all the history that there is to see. I highly recommend it, its never been something I've regretted. |