Normandy on the Fourth of July

It was early morning when we boarded the bus to ride to Normandy today.  We left the hotel at 7:45 in the morning because it took roughly 3 hours to drive to the location of our last performance.  The countryside of the region of Normandy is very beautiful – much like the countryside of Georgia.  The buildings here are somewhat new in that almost all of the old buildings were destroyed during World War II.  Still there is much to see.

We learned that Normandy is home to Camembert cheese, a lot of apple orchards (the apples are used to make a type of brandy called Calvados), and Joan d’Arc, the patron saint of France.  We passed Cannes (home of the famous film festival).

The American cemetery is a sight to behold.  Thousands of white stone markers (crosses and stars of David) line the ground distributed equally and lined at perfect angles.  We did not get the same pre-concert information as we did when we sang at Lorraine, but we did have a longer opportunity to walk the grounds and reflect on the meaning of such a hallowed place.  The cemetery is on a cliff overlooking Omaha Beach.  The rise is steep and on D-Day, the Germans were situated along that rise firing down as the Allied Forces landed on the beach below.  We cannot begin to understand what bravery it took for those men to land on the beach, cross under fire, and scale the steep incline in order to overtake the enemy several days later.  While not all of the graves at the cemetery belong to men who died during that battle, we did see many markers with the date, June 6, 1944 scattered throughout the grounds.

Before we sang, we were treated to a small concert from another group that is traveling with Harmony International.  This group is from Covington and Conyers and their tour is taking them to England after they leave France.  Once they finished three of their songs, we sang several of our pieces.  Then both groups combined to sing some of our more moving pieces.  Fantastic!  Our final prepared piece was The Battle Hymn of the Republic, and we were told it was heard and enjoyed at the other end of the cemetery.  Following that, Joe Martin encouraged everyone (singers, instrumentalists, and audience alike) to sing our National Anthem.  Imagine singing the Star Spangled Banner with over 200 people on Independence Day at the site of one of our most important and meaningful battles!  Without the bravery and sacrifice of the men who stormed Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944, the world would be a much different place.  I cannot tell you how meaningful this experience of visiting the cemetery was for me.

After the concert, several of us went with Kathy McCranie so that she could show us where her uncle, Ralph Kittle, was buried.  She had the coordinates of the marker and the Assistant Superintendent of the cemetery had been kind enough to walk her over to it before the concert.  At the foot of the cross lay a bunch of flowers.  Kathy asked earlier who might have left the flowers there.  She learned that families from the surrounding area often adopt graves and lay remembrances on them.  For the most part, the French people are truly grateful for what the Americans did in order to liberate France at the end of World War II.

From there we walked down to the beach.  I can tell you the climb back up was not easy in broad daylight on a beautiful day dressed in summer weight clothing and carrying a mere black notebook.  Imagine making it in the early morning under gunfire dressed in full combat gear and toting a backpack and a rifle!

We strolled back to the bus which took us to another area of the beach which has been designated as the marker for the Omaha Beach landing.  We enjoyed a sack lunch and admired the sculpture that was erected to commemorate the D-Day landing.

We headed back to the bus for our trip back to Paris where we will have the final dinner with the entire American Salute Tour.  Tomorrow we wake in the wee hours to head to the airport for our journey home.  Bon soir, mes amies et ma famille.  I will see you soon.