Return to Normandy, Part 3

The gray stone steeple of a church in Vierville looms near the road ahead of us. Was this the landmark commanders sought through their binoculars from the ships? We pass tranquil pastures, centuries old farmhouses, barns with rusty red roofs, and the road sign directing us to Utah Beach and Ste. Mere-Eglise.

I can hardly believe my eyes. We have arrived at Ste. Marie du Mont, what the Allied Forces named Utah Beach, the place I have heard about all my life, the place where my dad and hundreds of thousands of Americans landed in one of the most historic events ever. I am awestruck. We begin slowly to take it all in: the flagstaffs, arrow straight, are lined up in front of the museum, like soldiers at attention, intended to represent each of the countries who participated as Allies. Today they are naked. The flags are not flying on these poles. Is it because of the blustery, wet weather? Early spring on the Normandy coast sends a chill through your bones.

To the right of the building is a German bunker which has been modified to provide public restrooms. We like the symbolism. We inspect an underground bunker near the parking lot and move toward the granite obelisk prominently placed in a direct line from the front doors of the museum. It memorializes the 4th Infantry Division, United States Army. Inscribed in a retaining wall is the date "6 JUIN 1944." The gate of a faded ocean blue Higgins boat hangs open over the wall. Peering into the floor of that boat evokes mental images that are best left undescribed. We walk past a tank and a few artillery pieces, toward the barbed wire and other German-placed obstacles which have been left as part of the historical site. The Stars and Stripes flies beside the French Tricolor near a monument to the 1st Engineer Special Brigade. A sign at the foot of the obelisk says in French, "to our Liberators, the community of Sainte Marie du Mont remembers."

A plaque in French at the door of another bunker commemorates the "valiant soldiers of the United States fallen for the liberation of France," and the memorials continue on the inside of the bunker:

This German fortification was captured
from the enemy 6 June 1944 and was used by the 1st Engineer
Special Brigade as the headquarters from which
to direct beach operations during the landing of American
forces on this beach.
On the walls of this emplacement
are inscribed in tender remembrance the names of our comrades who gave
their lives to insure freedom and justice throughout the world.

Above the names a familiar verse from the Gospel of John brings a lump to the throat.

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Outside again we find memorials to the "heroic dead" of the 90th Infantry Division and "to the members of the United States Coast Guard who participated in the initial invasion of Normandy on D-Day, especially to those who gave their lives here..." and in closing,

The nations of the world shall long remember Normandy, the United States Armed Forces, their allies and the cost of freedom at this place.

The "Tough 'Ombres Combat Team" obelisk towers above all the others, "Utah Beach to Czechoslovakia."

In 5 campaigns and 318 days of battle, marked by great cost
of precious lives and extraordinary valor, the
Tough 'Ombres accomplished every mission, shoulder
to shoulder with American, French and other Allied
units. They liberated Europe and made a better world.

This beautiful and heart-wrenching monument with wreath and thirteen stars was erected by "the United States of America in humble tribute to its sons who lost their lives in the liberation of those beaches June 6, 1944.