Bucknell University Athletics
Postcards from Europe 2014: Day 5 in Normandy
5/25/2014 8:20:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Previous Postcards: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4
PARIS, France – This is going to be a difficult postcard to write this evening, because words simply cannot express what it meant to spend a day – on Memorial Day Weekend no less – visiting the Normandy beaches and the American World War II cemetery here in France.
We had all been well prepped for today's visit. Before leaving for Europe last week, Bucknell professor Michael Schmidli gave the team an hourlong lecture on the June 6, 1944 Normandy D-Day invasion, as well as some reading material to take along. On the way to Newark Airport the team watched “Saving Private Ryan,” the award-winning movie starring Tom Hanks and Matt Damon that accurately chronicles the bloody Omaha Beach invasion.
Even with that advance refresher, nothing could prepare us for the goosebumps we experienced when we stepped off the bus and looked down on Omaha Beach for the first time. When we arrived at the cemetery, we happened upon a Memorial Day ceremony that was attended by hundreds of American and French veterans and active servicemen. We were able to catch the end of the ceremony, and then stood at attention during the playing of taps and the raising of the flags of the U.S. and France from half to full staff.
The ceremony was held at The Memorial, a large arc-shaped monument that is inscribed with the words “This embattled shore, portal of freedom, is forever hallowed by the ideals, the valor and the sacrifices of our fellow countrymen.” The memorial is centered by the 22-foot high bronze statue The Spirit of American Youth Rising from the Waves and is flanked by two large porticos featuring detailed maps of the allied invasion and ensuing troop movement.
Out at the cemetery, our tour guide Odile armed us with some facts and figures, such as how many soldiers are buried there (9,387). Interestingly, all of the headstones face west – toward the U.S. – and no matter your perspective, the headstones are all aligned in perfect rows, just like a military formation.
Then Odile turned us loose, and we spent about 30 minutes solemnly roaming the cemetery, perusing the names, and enjoying the cliffside view down to the beach. Most of the headstones – in the shape of either a cross or a Star of David depending on the fallen soldier's religion – featured the deceased's name, rank, company, home state and date of death. Unfortunately, some of the graves contained the remains of unidentified men, and those headstones simply read “Here rests in honored glory, A comrade in arms, Known but to God.”
There was also a separate memorial listing the names of 1,557 soldiers who are still missing in action.
After the visit to the cemetery, we took the bus down to Omaha Beach. The team walked through the sand down to the water line, which was quite a trek during low tide, as the tidal range there is quite staggering. That played a major role in the strategy of the D-Day invasion, as June 6 was selected primarily due to the perfect correspondence of the moon and tides.
All of the guys on the team posed for photos and some collected sand from the beach in empty water bottles or small jars to take home as keepsakes.
The last stop on the tour took us to the bluffs overlooking Utah Beach, where we saw German heavy artillery bunkers, some still containing their original cannon. Here the Germans fired upon allied ships out in the English Channel. Visitors can walk into the dark, dank bunkers, and it is chilling to think about what they were originally used for.
The Normandy tour lasted about four hours, and we could have easily spent four more there. But alas, we had a three-plus hour drive to Paris ahead of us, and in Europe bus drivers have very strict limits on how many hours they can work in a day without rest. So we bid Normandy adieu and headed east to Paris, where Jos the bus driver took us down the Champs-Elysees just past 7 p.m.
After checking into the hotel, the entire traveling party ate dinner together. Afterward, the majority of the group, including all of the players, took the Paris Metro to a stop near the Eiffel Tower and took a late-night ride on a sightseeing boat down the river Seine. Paris is buzzing this weekend with the French Open tennis championship starting today at Roland Garros, and the river cruise on a cool, crisp night gave us a quick look at many of the major sights in Paris.
We will be seeing those landmarks again in more detail on a tour tomorrow, but for now, this was a perfect end to an incredible day.
Au revoir for now. We will check back in tomorrow after the tour of Paris and an evening game against Poissy. Go Bison!
