Am I World Traveler Yet?

October 2

Trying to write about 3 days worth of history stuff is quite an overwhelming task. But I'm down for the challenge. So let's see here... October 4th. I loved this day because we got to take a bus tour through all of the WWII sights in Normandy with a tour guide who was an expert on D Day and the history behind it. We started by going to the gun battery where all of the old german bunkers were and learned about how it was for everyone in the war on both sides. After the gun battery we went to Omaha beach where the American troops stormed on D Day. It was an interesting experience being there because of the historical significance of how many people died that day on both sides. We got to sit there on the beach and just think about it for a while, which I enjoyed.

After Omaha Beach we went up to the American Military Cemetery a little ways away and our tour guide took us through the cemetery and showed us some of the cool graves that most people don't notice. We saw Teddy Roosevelt's son's grave and a few brother pairs that fought and died together and one pair of father and son that died in the war. Then we had some time to ourselves to walk around the cemetery and go through the visitors' center. One thing that I really loved seeing was the little chapel in the middle of the whole field that had a beautiful mosaic on the ceiling of angels picking up wounded soldiers on the battle field and one interesting thing was that on the walls of the chapel that said, "Through the gate of death may they pass to their joyous resurrection," "I give unto them eternal life that they never shall perish," and, "Think not only upon their passing, Remember the glory of their spirit." I thought these were all really good quotes that intrigued me. The first two would definitely not fly in our society today, which is sad, but it wouldn't because it is talking all about resurrection and life after death, which people get very fired up about.

Then we took a quick trip to Pont-Du Hoc German War Cemetery. What was really interesting to me was seeing the major differences between the two cemeteries. The American one was really well kept and the crosses were all out of white marble and in perfect geometric positions to each other with a beautiful landscape, while the German one had smaller gravestones that were dark stone and set in the ground and it just looked a lot less cared for. Our guide was saying that the Germans don't like to remember war Germany so they don't fund the grave sites even though the men and boys buried there were their own people and fought for them.