Cherbourg, and the sky is overcast and cold. We think of the Umbrellas of Cherbourg, but I regress.
Cherbourg is our final travel stop on this cruise. We will spend half the day visiting the American cemetery and Omaha Beach. We drive through the country side for 90 minutes until we reach the American Cemetery. Along the way we pass 16th century stone farm houses and out buildings still in use. Healthy looking cows fill the pastures, small herds, many of them white. The area is knows for a variety of cheeses including Camembert which comes from a town nearby of the same name. There will be very little time for visiting on this short tour, but we are determined to enjoy it the best we can.
We arrive at the beautifully well-kept cemetery overlooking the beach where our brave young men and women fought to liberate France and end the war with Germany. Nearly 10,000 Americans are buried here, their grave sites marked by small marble crosses and Jewish stars. We are surprised by how many Stars we see bearing names like Roth, Kawalsky, and Stern. We are reminded that there are few veterans of this war still alive and wonder if we will erect similar memorial cemeteries to our fallen young men and women in Kabul or Iraq. And if we have cemeteries there, will they be respected and will Americans visit? I think not.
From the cemetery and memorial, which this abbreviated tour doesn’t allow time for visiting, we drive a short distance to Omaha beach. It is difficult not to consider the film footage we have seen in The Longest Day and Saving Private Ryan. How odd that we remember those films clearly, but not the history lessons from our high school days when we studied this war. I walked on Omaha beach, imagining how I might feel dropped in the ocean, slogging my way through the surf, only to face machine gun fire from the well-entrenched Germans in the concrete bunkers. One sergeant wrote, “You can manufacture guns, you can purchase ammunition, but you can’t buy the valor that men possess.” (I’m paraphrasing because I don’t recall the exact quote.) This was a war with a purpose, a goal, an end plan. I wish we could say the same of the current wars.
From the American cemetery and Omaha Beach we followed the trail of liberation to the first French town liberated by the Allies in June 1944, St. Mere l’Eglise. It is also the site of the movie The Longest Day. During the invasion one American parachuter caught his shoot in the church steeple. He was clearly visible hanging from the church and a ripe target for the Germans who were occupying the town. HIs only hope was to pretend he was already dead, and so he did, hanging in plain view for several hours, listening to the church bells ringing only feet from his ears. When the Allies arrived en masse and took over the town, he was saved. The town has not forgotten. There are plaques remembering the liberation and thanking the Allied forces.
In addition to the church, we had another treat, the weekly outdoor market. There were fresh vegetables, including organic choices, but also trailers with fresh breaks, caravan pulled grills featuring a variety of grilled to your specifications sausages, several fresh fish vendors, a charcuterie, the typical clothes and what not for sale, local cheeses (we bought some stinky cheese to take back to the ship), and an aromatic creperie on wheels. There were long lines at the grills but Stu and I headed for the creperie. His choice, fresh paper thin crepe with jambon (ham) and fromage (cheese). I went for dessert, nutella and banana on a fresh crepe. We enjoyed the lunch we ate seated on a park bench in front of the old church. This was our kind of travel and we loved it.
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