READER’S WORLD

Neville Green recalls a humbling visit to the beaches of Normandy

Neville Green salutes the fallen in Normandy

Took a train from Paris to the ocean Found a small hotel by the coast As we walked along the beaches of Normandy We came to Juno, Omaha and Gold, And whispered a prayer for the boys, Who said goodbye to it all. Say goodbye to it all — Chris de Burgh

ICANNOT explain why, but a visit to the Normandy beaches had been a life-long goal. The Allied landings on June 6 1944 have always stirred an inexplicable emotion within me. Was it because I was enthralled by the epic movie The Longest Day and more recently Saving Private Ryan?

I often wonder how I, as a teenager, would have reacted, waiting to land on Utah, Omaha, Juno, Gold or Sword beaches. How did anyone survive the fierce Nazi resistance? Question upon question. I had no answers.

The sun shone, children built sand castles and ran free, the slight breeze catching their hair as they squealed with laughter while the gentle waves lapped at their feet.

This scene before me was so far removed from the one that played out on that fateful day over 70 years ago. How did the invading forces mount the imposing cliffs and destroy the seemingly impenetrable blockhouses?

We had travelled from Paris and stayed overnight in a hotel in Caen, a city that suffered major destruction during Nazi occupation and the attacks by the Allies. This is shown in dramatic footage on a 360° mega screen at the D-Day Museum overlooking Gold Beach at Arromanches.

We had booked a guided tour of the beaches and commenced with a visit to the impressive memorial in Caen. Outside the entrance is an imposing statue re-enacting the famous photograph showing a US sailor kissing a young nurse in Times Square, New York, during the celebrations of the end of the war on VJ Day in 1945.

The memorial itself took up most of the morning, with its outstanding displays detailing the situation before war broke out in September 1939, followed by six years of fighting and then the aftermath, which included the so-called Cold War.

As our bus wound its way through French villages, we first stopped at Utah Beach, where we could see the German blockhouses that overlooked the English Channel. A barrage of bomb craters, now overgrown, still surround these bunkers.

We climbed down to take up the position of a German defender peering through the narrow opening and could appreciate the huge strategic advantage they had.

We then headed for Omaha Beach in Colleville-sur-Mer, perhaps the most poignant of all. The manicured cemetery — which is maintained by the United States — is covered with glistening, white marble crosses or Stars of David on the graves of the 9 387 US soldiers killed during the landing on Omaha and during the battle of Normandy.

We visited the graves of the two Niland brothers, whose story was so dramatically portrayed in Saving Private Ryan. President Theodore Roosevelt’s two sons are also buried here, as well as three women who served in the US forces.

I asked our guide if she felt the movie gave a realistic account of the landings and she agreed that it was truly outstanding but said The Longest Day was better as it had been filmed in Normandy. The former was filmed mainly in Ireland.

We then made our way onto Omaha Beach, where a striking steel monument stretches skywards from the sand. This memorial, Les Braves, was created in 2004 for the 60th Anniversary of D-Day by French sculptor Anilore Banon.

Where blood once flowed and young lives were cut short, smiling children, blissfully unaware, now represent the future, playing in the shadows of the human suffering of the past.

I sat between the tall metal blades and stared out at the waves as they gently caressed the shore.

The contrast of peaceful, almost poetic beauty against the stark blackand-white images I have seen of that awful day in June 1944 was difficult to comprehend. The visit was all too short but truly humbling. I need to go back. — © Neville Green

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