I went to France and did an all day Normandy invasion tour. Here are some of my thoughts. Point Du Hoc- Have you seen The Longest Day? They filmed it at the real Point Du Hoc. You first enter a parking lot and walk for a few minutes to a great grass field with the smell of salt air. You realize though the entire land scape looks like some took a 30 foot icecream scooper and just took out as much as they could of the field. The craters of the bombardment are still there. You come to grips that there were Germans on this exact beach who were trying to survive this bombartment and actually did. The buckets are caved in In a lot of spots. I peeked my head over the cliff and realized how far you had to climb up from the beach. Go right now and watch the clip from The Longest Day and watch all the grenades the germans were throwing at them and think to yourself, yea more soldiers would have died from that explosion. It is haunting to think that a symbol of relaxation, the beach, can be turned into so much more now that I have seen the echoes of war upon it. Omaha Beach- no one tells you that when they got to the beach that had to hike up a freaking hill to get to the next bunker. It took me 15 minutes to hike down the path just to get to the sand. Walking back up the hill I realized what kind of death trap I was in. The entire beach is almost made to not be invaded just by the natural structure. There was a man on our bus tour that had his father invade the beaches of Omaha. He hiked down the hill in a hurry with determination and passed me right at the bottom. He walked to the edge of the water and just collapsed on his knees. I am pretty sure his dad is no longer with us anymore but I kind of feel he felt closer to him there since he passed away. After a few minutes he took out a bag and filled it with sand. I had the same plan too but realizing that this was a burial ground and no one in my family invaded Normandy, I decided I would save the sand for other families as a small thank you for thier service.

The previous week I spent a week all over France viewing the history of the world. But Normandy will always be the place that sticks with me. I will never grasp what those men went through on the beaches but just seeing what it looks 70 years after the fact, makes my soul mad and grateful at the same time.

Ps. I can write more about my travels and experiences there or answer questions it is just I am writing on my cell and battery is low.