My visit to the D-Day beaches (specifically Omaha Beach—the worst sector for the Americans) and surrounding areas that were involved in the Battle of Normandy. I signed up for a tour through Overland Tours that focused on the American sector in the morning and followed the footsteps of the *Band of Brothers* show in the afternoon (the 101st Easy Company paratroopers). We lucked out in that it was a small group of four (2 Belgians, 1 American, and me). My guide was Guillaume, and he was so informative, kind, and really passionate about the subjects. Even though we weren't going to the Canadian sector (Juno Beach), he found time to mention specific Canadian facts to me during the tour.
The Beaches of Normandy
On June 6th, 1944, the Allies (British, US, and Canadian forces) attacked the German fortifications in France. It was an all-out naval, air, and infantry assault which saw 156,000 troops landing on the beaches alone. There were five beach fronts that were divided by different Allies: Utah & Omaha for the US, Gold & Sword for the British, and Juno for the Canadians.
My guide told me interesting facts about the code name choices. The US beach codenames (Omaha and Utah) were chosen for where two clerks were from who worked in the office of the general. The British chose their names based originally on sea/fish because it was called the “Neptune” Operation. They chose Goldfish, Swordfish, and Jellyfish (later dropping the “fish” part). However, the Canadians said “Jelly” was a ridiculous name, so the Canadians chose Juno; it was the name of a Canadian officer’s wife.
Omaha Beach
Omaha was the most heavily fortified beach due to numerous hills and bunkers. Bunkers and guns never faced the sea directly (they were on an angle to create a crossfire). The Germans had a few years to build and study the formations of the land as well. Of the American sector, Utah was the most successful landing, and Omaha was... well, the intro to Saving Private Ryan.
I felt very, very small while standing there. It's a piece of history that I learned about and now I'm here. And the world keeps turning. History is wild.
When we were at Omaha Beach, we saw a rock called “Ray’s Rock” (named after medic Ray Lambert), which he used as a makeshift medic station, hiding behind it to treat soldiers he rescued from the water. Omaha Beach is very large; this rock was not.
We also visited the remnants of German bunkers & trenches in WN (Widerstandsnest) 62. It housed a radio communications bunker and was a significant strongpoint. Multiple bunkers/ trenches housed field guns, machine guns, and 25–35 soldiers. Its elevation made it even more deadly to the soldiers arriving on the beach.
American Cemetery
We then went to the Normandy American Cemetery. It’s very respectful and honors 9,388 US soldiers who died and 1,557 MIA in the battle for Normandy (not just on June 6th specifically). The rest of the 29,000 who died were expatriated back to their home soil. It is the second-largest US cemetery outside of the US (the first is in the Philippines for the Pacific Front). It has a large memorial and 10 different sections for the graves (some roped off so you can’t walk on all of them at once). In between graves of known soldiers are those of unknown soldiers. 💔
I took a picture of a random grave and researched more about the soldier when I had some downtime later. I thought it would be a good way to humanize the immensity of this site.
“Preston V. Wells. Killed in Action: Landed on Omaha Beach (Easy Green sector) as part of the engineer units tasked with clearing beach obstacles and enabling supply movement. According to his friend Bill Burleson, he was wounded or killed almost immediately upon exiting his landing craft.”
Easy Green Sector was right beside the sector I was standing on (Easy Red) when I was just on Omaha Beach. Wow. 🥺 You are not forgotten, Preston Wells.
Pointe du Hoc
The next stop of the tour was Pointe du Hoc. Pointe du Hoc was a German position on a 100-foot cliff that had six cannons that could fire at both Omaha and Utah Beaches. It was imperative that these were destroyed so that the landings could proceed. Destroying them was critical to the invasion’s success, so the U.S. Army Rangers, an elite assault unit, were sent in. Intel was incorrect in that the guns were actually moved inland, but regardless, the Rangers succeeded in their mission and held Pointe du Hoc for two days (suffering 60% losses!). It was an insanely challenging aspect of the battle.
The Church of Sainte‑Mère‑Église
This story was made famous in the film The Longest Day (I actually haven't seen it! On my list now 🙈). A paratrooper, John Steele, famously got caught on the church steeple in Sainte-Mère-Église during the D-Day drop and hung there wounded for hours until he was captured (and later escaped!). They now have a replica paratrooper hanging on the steeple to honor him and all the other troopers that landed and liberated the town (even if, factually, he landed on the side opposite the square!).
Angoville-au-Plain Medics
Robert Wright & Kenneth Moore were two relatively fresh medics who landed in Angoville-au-Plain and set up a makeshift medical center in the church. They treated both American, German, and civilian injuries and saved 80 lives in three days.
Band of Brothers
The afternoon was spent driving around to different areas that had significance historically and in connection to Band of Brothers specifically. Here are some of the places we saw:
• The field where Winters parachuted in (off-target during the D-Day drop, like many in the 101st Airborne)
• The street where Easy Company ambushed soldiers on horseback (and Garnier’s trigger-happy actions reflecting his emotional response to learning his brother had been killed in action — shown in Episode 2. Side note: these were not German troops but Georgian POWs used as supply runners—new things learned!)
• The crash site of Lt. Meehan’s C-47 plane (the lead aircraft in a V-formation; tragically, one of 23 paratrooper planes lost on D-Day... resulted in Winters being promoted)
• The site where Lt. Spiers reportedly executed German POWs—just after Malarkey had a brief conversation with one of them and found out he was also American (Episode 2)
• Brécourt Manor—where Winters led a major tactical victory and military maneuver, taking out cannons aiming at Utah Beach, which helped the Utah landing be a success (Episode 2)
• Carentan—the strategic town that Easy Company helped liberate with fierce urban fighting after securing their D-Day objectives (Episode 3)
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