Not everyone was happy with my son and I being away on our trip. Chick, my son's dog took it very personally, especially since my husband and daughter weren't as forthcoming with the daily treats as her 'master' Marc.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
A side line to our vacation . . .
Not everyone was happy with my son and I being away on our trip. Chick, my son's dog took it very personally, especially since my husband and daughter weren't as forthcoming with the daily treats as her 'master' Marc.
The paratrooper of Sainte-Mere-Eglise . . .
The American 101st Airborne Division was dropped early in the morning of June 6th, 1944 to cover the western flanks of the invasion area. They were dropped close to Sainte-Mère-Église. Unfortunately, several soldiers came down in the middle of Sainte-Mère-Église. Many were shot from the ground before the reached the ground. One paratrooper got hung up on the bell-tower of the 11th century church. Although he survived, his hearing was damaged because of the tolling bell. He basically played 'dead' in order to survive.
In the well-known movie, The Longest Day (1962) this event is one of the many scenes. Nowadays visitors of Sainte-Mère-Église are still reminded of this by a dummy-paratrooper, hanging down from the church-tower.
It was realistic and a shock to see the replication of the event of 1944 on the church tower. It really made me realize how high up the paratrooper was trapped on the church tower and how terrifying the ordeal had to have been for him.
Utah Beach!
Our first arrival at Utah Beach. My son, Marc, is posing with our two tour guides displaying smiles that wouldn't have been there on the actual day of the invasion! For further clarification, Ask.com had this information on this important aspect which helped turn the tide of the war.
From Ask.com . . .
Utah Beach was the furthest west of the five beaches designated for the D-Day landings in June 1944. Located at the base of the Cotentin Peninsula, it was added by General Dwight Eisenhower to the original D-Day plan to ensure the early capture of the vital port of Cherbourg, at the north of the peninsula. Eisenhower realised that the Allied advance throughout Western Europe would require vast amounts of equipment and that the only major port that could handle this in the initial stages of the war was at Cherbourg.
The target 'Utah Beach' was about three miles wide. Much of it was made up of sandy dunes and the German fortifications here were weak when compared those of Omaha Beach. The land behind the target beach was easily flooded by locks and it is assumed that the Germans believed that the area need not have too much defence as their main defence would be to flood the region when and if the Allies attacked there. There were only four main ways off the beach area and flooding would have severely restricted any form of movement, but especially that of vehicles. The nearest major town for the Allies was Carentan, to the south-west of the beach. Through Carentan ran a main road to the east to Bayeaux, which would link the Allies who landed at Utah to the Allies at Omaha and to Gold, Juno and Sword. This same road ran north-west from Carentan to Valognes. Cherbourg was only 13 miles from Valognes.
The landing at Utah was scheduled for 06.30 and the Allied force came from the US 4th Infantry Division. The plan for Utah included an airborne drop by the US 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions at various points two to five miles inland of the beach. Those landing on the beach were scheduled to link up with the paratroopers as soon as was possible. The paratroopers were dropped primarily to secure the main road from Valognes to Carentan and to cause general chaos as they dropped at night at 01.30. German commanders did not know if they were a decoy to a main attack elsewhere or the primary attack force in the area. For this reason, the Germans did not know what forces to deploy against the 82nd and 101st - such chaos and uncertainty was perfect for the Allies and precisely why the paratroopers were dropped.
The airborne drop worked well. The sea borne landing did not go to plan – though ironically, a battle against Nature was to be of great value to the Allies. Strong currents meant that the landing craft were taken off of their intended targets on the beach. They landed on the beach, but 2000 meters away from their main landing target. Ironically, this was one of the lesser-defended areas along the entire beach front and the casualties as the Americans came ashore were minimal when compared to Omaha. The most senior American commander on the beach, Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt told his men that, “We’ll start the war from here!” and ordered an advance. By midday, the men of the US 4th Infantry had met up with the men from the 101st Airborne unit. German opposition was swiftly dealt with. By the end of the day, the Americans had advanced about four miles inland and they were about one mile from the 82nd at St. Mère-Eglise, some six miles north of Carentan.
On the first full day of the landing at Utah, 20,000 men had been landed and 1,700 military vehicles. Casualties were less than 300 men. Though the war in the Cotentin Peninsula was not yet over, the achievements at Utah were immense, even if Nature had given a helping hand.
Dead Man's Corner in the Town of Carentan
Dead Man's Corner was an amazing place. From what I'm remembering, this is not the original building but rebuilt exactly as it was originally. There is a wonderful museum with enough war items to keep my history-minded son happy for hours. The gift shop area sold original and replica items from the war including uniforms and medals, etc. My son treated himself to a 'potato masher'. Now, you will all have to Google this to see that it is definitely not the type to use in the kitchen although it could pulverize a poor potato!
The name, Dead Man's Corner? Seems that when the allied tanks were coming into the area, the person in the first tank was taken out by a German sniper. He died at his tank. Since this was an invasion, there was no time to do anything about the poor soldier and there he stayed for something like three days. As more and more tanks were coming in and asking for directions, the response was, "Turn at the dead man at the corner" thus giving the place it's name today.
Le Grand Hard Hotel
Once we crossed the English Channel and got through another long bus trip, we were at Le Grand Hard in Ste-Marie-du-Mont in France. The hotel was about 15 minutes from the beach. If it looks rustic, it is a project in process as it was referred to as the Horse Farm. The rooms were being renovated from old farm buildings and, probably former barn buildings. The walls were very thick but the rooms, themselves, were all that could be comfortable and accommodating. Every room had a full bathroom and shower so what more could one ask?
As usual, my son and I were up early and out for a pre-breakfast walk. No, we are not that physically inclined but were HUNGRY and figured a walk would pass away some of the waiting time and certainly increase our appetite. Since it literally is a horse farm, we walked by many corrals with beautiful horses.
Breakfast at Le Grand Hard was inspired. We had a choice of miniature croissants, flakey rolls filled with melting chocolate, fresh bread of several sorts, along with cereal, yogurt, and fruit. There was also slices of French cheeses, Brie, sliced meat as well as coffee, tea, and milk. As we seated ourselves behind our loaded breakfast plates, the waitress came by and offered us an egg - either soft boiled, scrambled, or fried. As the tour turned out to be quite active with lots of walking and climbing, we needed a good breakfast to begin the day. It certainly helped that it tasted so good, too!
Another mention of Hungarford, England
Still downloading pictures of the vacation and wanted to share this practically backyard view down the street from our hotel. It was one of those picture-perfect English countryside days with the sun shining through some darkening clouds providing the best walking weather . . . unless the cloud burst catches one too far from shelter. Fortunately, we didn't get any rain and our walk was unhampered by soggy feet and damp clothing.
It was kind of amazing that there would be this quiet scene so close by the noise of the traffic. Just shows one that you can always find a peaceful pocket in the midst of most any turbulance.
Off the trip topic for a moment . . .
I read a book while I was on vacation and it was touted to be a beautiful story of true love and tough decisions. Okay, I was up to a book with something solid and worthwhile in it. First of all, the book was written in a rather erratic way with things being related in a very undate worthy order. I like a beginning, progression, and satisfying ending.
Anyway, the main premise of the book was that next-door neighbors meet, fall in love, and marry. What bothered me is that the female already had a live-in boyfriend but still went out with this other 'gentleman' without much of a qualm. Sure, she didn't INTEND to get involved because she was so much in LOVE with her live-in boyfriend . . . but she did and then was constantly bemoaning the fact that she didn't know if she loved the new guy 'as much' as she loved her long-time boyfriend. This was only the first half of the book and the ending was somewhat more satisfying . . . if one could get over the broken commandments and immorality.
It really made me sad that the author was probably very serious in bringing forth a book of sweetness, emotions, and the changes in life and perspectives. I had to wonder if he lacked enough writing skills to present a book incorporating all this but with a moral backbone. What could be poignant and sweet about the heroine sleeping with a guy she hardly knew when she was still involved with her boyfriend and being intimate with him? What about either of the guys once they find out she is sharing her lack of virtue with both of them?
Life, these days, is dictated more with emotions than thought processes. Once you employ physical chemistry, you aren't likely to employ common sense. Very sad there are so few authors who don't take a stand in favor of moral relationships and seem to truly believe that immorality is the constant way of the world. Okay, immorality does seem to be the majority vote but how refreshing it would be if more author would have the gumption to take the moral highroad and instill something of value in their readers.
Anyway, the main premise of the book was that next-door neighbors meet, fall in love, and marry. What bothered me is that the female already had a live-in boyfriend but still went out with this other 'gentleman' without much of a qualm. Sure, she didn't INTEND to get involved because she was so much in LOVE with her live-in boyfriend . . . but she did and then was constantly bemoaning the fact that she didn't know if she loved the new guy 'as much' as she loved her long-time boyfriend. This was only the first half of the book and the ending was somewhat more satisfying . . . if one could get over the broken commandments and immorality.
It really made me sad that the author was probably very serious in bringing forth a book of sweetness, emotions, and the changes in life and perspectives. I had to wonder if he lacked enough writing skills to present a book incorporating all this but with a moral backbone. What could be poignant and sweet about the heroine sleeping with a guy she hardly knew when she was still involved with her boyfriend and being intimate with him? What about either of the guys once they find out she is sharing her lack of virtue with both of them?
Life, these days, is dictated more with emotions than thought processes. Once you employ physical chemistry, you aren't likely to employ common sense. Very sad there are so few authors who don't take a stand in favor of moral relationships and seem to truly believe that immorality is the constant way of the world. Okay, immorality does seem to be the majority vote but how refreshing it would be if more author would have the gumption to take the moral highroad and instill something of value in their readers.
Crossing the English Channel!
In case you think this is a picture from a French ferry boat crossing the English Channel, you are correct! Sadly, the day after we got to Hungarford, England, we had to get moving on the tour and drove down to the water, boarded the ferry boat in our bus, and then went upstairs for the seven-hour trip across the English Channel. The water was active but not overly unruly so the crossing was relatively peaceful. It was a huge ferry boat with two choices of eateries as well as duty-free shopping, movies, etc. After exploring the ship, inside and out, we settled down with a books and, yes, even dozed off a bit as we were barely out of the jet lag mode from our arrival in England.
The crossing was uneventful and we finished off the last three hours with a shared meal with the rest of the group at the abundant cafeteria onboard the ship. When one says 'cafeteria', I'm sure they aren't imagining the scope of available food to be found in this one! We were not suffering.
It was a long bus ride once we got off the ship in Normandy to our hotel for the next few days. Since we had eaten on the ship, it was a matter of staggering off the bus, getting our room keys, and falling into bed. If we had known then about the great breakfast awaiting us the next morning, we might have all woken up a bit more energetically.
Meeting our first witnesses of World War II
The two witnesses at Littlecote House graciously let me take a picture of them with my son at the end of their presentation. Rosemary, on the left, worked in her father's barbar shop during the war so met a lot of our military who came in for haircuts. She shared her private picture albums and memories of the time. Monica, on the right, grew up in the era and had some wonderful stories to share. Both of the ladies really brought the war to a reality that hit home with us. It took World War II from something read in a history book to something that really impacted people's lives.
Littlecote House in England
The first official start of our World War II Battlefield tour began at Littlecote House, headquarters of the 506 Parachute Infantry Regiment in England during 1944. The most inspirational part of this visit was meeting two 'witnesses' of the era! At almost every stop on the tour, we got to meet people who actually lived in the area at the time and could tell us interesting bits of personal history. We met two delightful, English ladies who shared their memories, pictures, and thoughts during the war especially as it pertained to our military being there to support the war efforts. The picture shows the approach to Littlecote but hardly gives justice to the expanse of the property or the beauty. The inside of the house was open to any and everyone without an admission fee. Lots of history there. The most interesting part, at least to me, was the fact that anyone could come in and just sit in the beautiful rooms and read or sit and think.A view from Hungarford England!
The view of the smaller river flowing directly outside our hotel window in Hungarford, England! This was just a small channel of the greater expanses of water which could support some rivercraft. We wished we had more time to take one of the boat rides but, like all vacations, never enough time to do all you would like to do. We really loved this little place and thought it would be a nice area to spend a few days to just wander around and enjoy the scenic views, good food, and kindly people.
Day One of our tour - jet lag and new surroundings . . .
After our lengthy flight overseas along with long waits between flights in spite of our best of planning, we found ourselves finally through the chaos of passport control and on the tour bus. Only twelve in our tour which certainly made it easy for getting in and out of museums, etc.
Although we landed in London, we almost immediately drove a couple of hours outside of London to Hungarford which turned out to be a beautiful little village/town. Lots of thatched roofs, a canal running through the area, and even a small 'river' flowing outside our room window. There was a private residence in sight of our window and we enjoyed seeing a picture-perfect sight of an elderly lady working in her garden.
Yes, we were very tired after the flight but had six hours under the welcome dinner so my son and I cleaned up a bit and headed out to check out the town. Very small town but lots of traffic with very little sign of any speed limits. That fact, along with the driving on the opposite side of the street, kept us on our toes and no driver seemed to want to settle for taking prisoners!
We enjoyed checking out the small shops, got some warm jelly donuts to snack on, and just ventured in and out of the little streets. We even found a war memorial which sort of gave us a jump start to our adventure. The weather was brisk but the walking kept us comfortable and, after all, we were in England! It was the first time overseas for my son so you can imagine his reactions and enjoyment to all that was different.
Jet lag caught up with us and we decided a nap before the late dinner was in order but jet lag worked against us and we, again, headed out for a walk about an hour before dinner. Interesting . . . small town but they had a huge car dealership right by the hotel! It was sort of the old meeting the new.
Our booked tour included ALL our meals and even drinks with dinner. Having been on some tours which offered meals, we went in with our eyes opened and didn't expect anything but sustanence. We were shocked when we were told to order from the menu and were given a choice on our starter course, our entree, AND dessert. This was NOT a feeding trough for run-of-the mill hoardes of tourists. Our orders looked like something one would see on the food channel networks! I can't even describe my salad but it should have been the subject of a painting . . . but I happily ate it anyway! I had roasted lamb for dinner and my adventurous son ordered pork belly. He had never had pork belly and it certainly didn't look like 'basic' food. Besides the fork tender meat, they had taken slivers of the fat and provided crisp curls of deep-fried (bad for you, of course!)contrast to the meal. Between the two of us, we couldn't decide who had gotten the best deal. My dessert was a chocolate cream strawberry tart. My son got what is called an Eton Mess which somes from some historic dessert that got thrown together for dessert at the college once upon a time. Believe me, it didn't get presented as college cafeteria fare that evening.
After dinner, we had a meeting to discuss how the next day would start, some more about the tour, and to get to know each other. Good food, a bit of rest, and like-minded company promised a great tour.
Although we landed in London, we almost immediately drove a couple of hours outside of London to Hungarford which turned out to be a beautiful little village/town. Lots of thatched roofs, a canal running through the area, and even a small 'river' flowing outside our room window. There was a private residence in sight of our window and we enjoyed seeing a picture-perfect sight of an elderly lady working in her garden.
Yes, we were very tired after the flight but had six hours under the welcome dinner so my son and I cleaned up a bit and headed out to check out the town. Very small town but lots of traffic with very little sign of any speed limits. That fact, along with the driving on the opposite side of the street, kept us on our toes and no driver seemed to want to settle for taking prisoners!
We enjoyed checking out the small shops, got some warm jelly donuts to snack on, and just ventured in and out of the little streets. We even found a war memorial which sort of gave us a jump start to our adventure. The weather was brisk but the walking kept us comfortable and, after all, we were in England! It was the first time overseas for my son so you can imagine his reactions and enjoyment to all that was different.
Jet lag caught up with us and we decided a nap before the late dinner was in order but jet lag worked against us and we, again, headed out for a walk about an hour before dinner. Interesting . . . small town but they had a huge car dealership right by the hotel! It was sort of the old meeting the new.
Our booked tour included ALL our meals and even drinks with dinner. Having been on some tours which offered meals, we went in with our eyes opened and didn't expect anything but sustanence. We were shocked when we were told to order from the menu and were given a choice on our starter course, our entree, AND dessert. This was NOT a feeding trough for run-of-the mill hoardes of tourists. Our orders looked like something one would see on the food channel networks! I can't even describe my salad but it should have been the subject of a painting . . . but I happily ate it anyway! I had roasted lamb for dinner and my adventurous son ordered pork belly. He had never had pork belly and it certainly didn't look like 'basic' food. Besides the fork tender meat, they had taken slivers of the fat and provided crisp curls of deep-fried (bad for you, of course!)contrast to the meal. Between the two of us, we couldn't decide who had gotten the best deal. My dessert was a chocolate cream strawberry tart. My son got what is called an Eton Mess which somes from some historic dessert that got thrown together for dessert at the college once upon a time. Believe me, it didn't get presented as college cafeteria fare that evening.
After dinner, we had a meeting to discuss how the next day would start, some more about the tour, and to get to know each other. Good food, a bit of rest, and like-minded company promised a great tour.
Interesting little book with old-fashioned values . . .
My husband picked up an old paperback book for me from the used book section at his library. The original price on the book was fifty cents which should reveal starkly exactly how far back this book was written! It's first printing was 1928 and the last printing was 1957. As with books about the 'olden times', it had a lot of profound insights which made it readable on several levels.
The book was Mr. Blue by Myles Connolly. It was about Mr. Blue who was seemingly a bit of an eccentric but who really had the most basic grasp on being a Christian and a man of valor. I plan to read it, again, as there seemed to be more between the lines to discover.
There was a poem 'written' by the main character, Mr. Blue, that certainly showed one how much God loved his mortal creatures. I thought I'd share it here with you.
Verses
by J. Blue
Human love is blind-
But how strange the love must be
Of the good and gracious God
Who died for the like of me.
So herein let us have hope
That our squalor finds disguise
In the splendor of His heart,
In the glory of His eyes . . .
The book was Mr. Blue by Myles Connolly. It was about Mr. Blue who was seemingly a bit of an eccentric but who really had the most basic grasp on being a Christian and a man of valor. I plan to read it, again, as there seemed to be more between the lines to discover.
There was a poem 'written' by the main character, Mr. Blue, that certainly showed one how much God loved his mortal creatures. I thought I'd share it here with you.
Verses
by J. Blue
Human love is blind-
But how strange the love must be
Of the good and gracious God
Who died for the like of me.
So herein let us have hope
That our squalor finds disguise
In the splendor of His heart,
In the glory of His eyes . . .
Still recovering from the vacation . . .
Although I promised myself that I would force myself to acclimate myself immediately to local time after my vacation overseas, I did find myself nodding off in front of the television last night. My daughter graciously cooked dinner but even chewing seemed more trouble than it was worth! I'm thinking that even with the cat naps throughout the late afternoon and evening, I still had enough 'tired' left to sleepily pass out the moment my head hit the pillow! Yes, we stayed at some very nice places during the trip but there is no bed like your own for good sleep!
My major accomplishments of my first day home was to do the bills and discover the American Express bill is either not here or lost in the jumble of my foggy attempts to do math with eyes at half mast! I did manage to drive over to our favorite friends' house to give out the treats we got them from the trip.
On our last day of our battlefield tour, the guides asked my 17 year old what the best memory of the trip was for him. He jokingly said, "Well, aftere we got through the packed lines at passport control in London, had to go back in the line to fill out a forgotten paper, and finally found which of the ten baggage claim areas we needed to locate in order to find our luggage, seeing the tour guide standing at the exit area, waving a sign with our names on was very comforting. BUT, the favorite memory of that day? When we were told to cash in some dollars for Pounds and we tiredly grabbed our bags to get into THAT line and one of the guides said, 'Just leave those here. We'll watch them for you!'" My son said we had only 'known' them for five minutes but after over 12 hours in the air, that was good enough for im to extend our trust!
Fortunately, my son DID get a lot more than suitcase relief from our ten-day tour!
My major accomplishments of my first day home was to do the bills and discover the American Express bill is either not here or lost in the jumble of my foggy attempts to do math with eyes at half mast! I did manage to drive over to our favorite friends' house to give out the treats we got them from the trip.
On our last day of our battlefield tour, the guides asked my 17 year old what the best memory of the trip was for him. He jokingly said, "Well, aftere we got through the packed lines at passport control in London, had to go back in the line to fill out a forgotten paper, and finally found which of the ten baggage claim areas we needed to locate in order to find our luggage, seeing the tour guide standing at the exit area, waving a sign with our names on was very comforting. BUT, the favorite memory of that day? When we were told to cash in some dollars for Pounds and we tiredly grabbed our bags to get into THAT line and one of the guides said, 'Just leave those here. We'll watch them for you!'" My son said we had only 'known' them for five minutes but after over 12 hours in the air, that was good enough for im to extend our trust!
Fortunately, my son DID get a lot more than suitcase relief from our ten-day tour!
Lenny's prayer request to date . . .
Several people have asked if there has been any updates on Lenny. In case any of them just saw the first one, the dates on the Blog that relate to Lenny and her condition are to be found on April 1st, April 7th, April 10th, and April 14th. Just put 'Lenny' in the search box and they will come up. I just sent a note to the person who originally sent me the prayer request to see if she has had any further word on Lenny and will post that when I receive it.
With all the prayers that are going out for Lenny, I'm hoping God will see to her ultimate recovery.
With all the prayers that are going out for Lenny, I'm hoping God will see to her ultimate recovery.
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