Have you seen the Hollywood Oscar Winning Film „Saving private Ryan“ with Tom Hanks? A great film about the D-day on the Normandy shores of France. As I this year had decided to visit the Normandy, I thought it would be a „not to miss“ part of my trip to see Omaha Beach and the US War Cemetary. It is located in Colville-sur-Mer which is a 4-hour drive from Paris.
Having found the small town of Colville-sur-Mer, I continued to the US Cemetary.
At the entry I was stunned by the sheer size of the parking lot, and that in a quiet and very beautiful part of france where you feel you might be „the only“ tourist around.
The crazy thing was, the parking lot was very full and the cars came from all over Europe; countries like Holland, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, UK, Spain, Poland and so on.
The Cemetary is located just above the landing beaches of the Normandy. Before entering the cemetary a huge information board shows the D-Day landing beaches (Omaha, Utah, Juno, Sword and ).
The Info-board with all the beaches ans small villages
The Cemetary is right above the beaches
The site is very pretty and very very well kept. Entering the huge (c. 170 acres! = c. 350 football pitches!) Cemetary you immediately get stunned by the size and the endless rows of white crosses…. somewhere scary.
The rows are all made with military precision layout.
One cross after the other precisely positioned row by row. Over 9.000 crosses, some carry inscriptions with names others not. Some have additionally the jewish david star . Whereever you look, right, left, straight on...white crosses...leaves you somewhat without words. Walking through the rows of crosses reading the names, where they came from ...and the age of the fallen soldiers...leaves you even more speechless. Most of the soldiers were very young 18, 19, 20 years old!
Some crosses do not carry the name of fallen soldier.
Beautifully positioned towards the beach. The third cross from left is designed with the star of david.
The place is breathing a certain quietnessa and the visitors all look pensive and touched, I also feel touched by the sight despite that I don't have family members who fought on the D-day beaches.
The impression is long-lasting and makes you feel totally spreechless and at the same time thankful to the all the soldiers that sacrifized their lives for all of us.
I am not really into „Cemetary-sight-seeing“ but this place leaves me pretty impressed. It is a bit off the beaten track, but definitely a place worth visiting.