D-Day Tour Part 3

For Part I of our D-Day tour, go here
For Part II of our D-Day tour, go here

Band of Brothers at Brecourt Manor

Part of our tour went to key sites for the Easy Company of the 101st Airborne Division made famous by the book and miniseries 'Band of Brothers' (which is now need to watch when I get home).

Statue honouring Major Winters

From the Overlord website:
"Spaced at intervals along that ditch, were 4 German cannon batteries consisting of 105mm guns. The guns were zeroed in on U.S. forces landing on Utah Beach, near Exit 2. Lt. Dick Winters of Easy Company led a small group of Easy Company men to this site, and systematically took out all four guns at this site, and was awarded the Distinguished service cross for this attack. Several other of his men were also awarded medals for their actions as well." 

Utah Beach

Next up was Utah Beach. It was the most successful of the landings on D-Day with the Americans taking the beach in just over a half an hour.

Later the Allies would build train tracks on the beach, linking up to the railway in Cherbourg and bringing much needed supplies to the Allies during the French liberation. Tanks and jeeps and all manner of equipment were shipped across the Channel from England to France via Utah Beach.

Sherman Tank and Hedgehog obstacles that were put on the beach by the Germans to prevent boats from landing too close to shore.

Angloville Au Plain

Two medics from the 506th, Bob Wright and Kenneth Moore, took care of 80 German and American wounded in this 12th century church for over 72 consecutive hours following the initial hours of the jump into Normandy.

Stained glass windows honour the paratroopers and medics who tended to the wounded in this Church.
Blood stains are still visible on the pews.

It was humbling to visit this area and to imagine the events as they unfolded in Normandy. D-Day was a pivotal point in World War II, and to be here where most of what I know about the Second World War actually happened was at times surreal. I can't say enough about how much both Kyle and I enjoyed visiting Normandy and learning about D-Day. If you have any questions, please ask - I would love to share.

More on the Norman town of Bayeux in my next post.