The water is blue, the cliffs look insurmountable and the sky holds fluffy white clouds offering a deceptively beautiful view. This beach, now a tourist site for many Americans, Canadians and British, is also a summer place for the French to flock to as the spring wanes.
Sixty-five years ago this month, however, this was the site of amazing carnage. This is where the Invasion of Normandy happened and became the turning point in World War II.

The beaches and cliffs are serene these days and the cemetery is a sea of white crosses that show visitors how many heroes fought for freedom. Today, while the beaches remain French territory, the cemetery where our military are buried is considered American soil. Blood, sweat and many a tear earned us that right.

What is the history of Normandy? It is named for the Vikings that conquered it in the ninth century. Cave paintings share that this area was occupied as far back as prehistoric times. For a century and a half, France and Britain were ruled jointly by the Normans. In the 12th century, English rule became separated from French rule.
Today nearly 5 percent of the country’s population resides in this primarily agricultural and tourist area. Cattle and dairy are big business. Fields are small and the Normans refer to the landscape as Bocage, which is a small forest, a decorative element of leaves, a terrain of mixed woodland and pasture or a type of rubble-work.
The villages are picturesque. Fields are separated by stone walls and farmhouses built of the same solid material look like they have stood for centuries. It is a cider-producing area and the apple orchards also are used to create a fruit brandy called Calvados. Producers may use more than 100 apple varieties.

The apples used are either sweet (such as the Rouge Duret variety), tart (such as Rambault) or bitter (such as Mettais, Saint Martin, Frequin and Binet Rouge), with the latter category of apple being inedible. The fruit is picked, usually by hand, and pressed into a juice that is fermented into a dry cider, then distilled eau de vie (fruit brandy).

Flax is also grown, and 60 percent of the country’s horse breeding occurs in this rocky area. The lovely seaside landscape also offers fishing, seafood and tourism.

This reflects Normandy 2009; in 1944, the war had begun to take a toll on Hitler and the Nazi Regime and the Allies had recently bombed the Monte Cassino, a monastery that sits on a rocky hill just 80 miles southeast of Rome. The Germans surrendered in Crimea and retreated from Anzio.

On June 5, just one day before D-Day, the Allies entered Rome. On June 6, according to The History Place online, “General Eisenhower gives the order of the day, ‘Full victory - nothing else,’ to paratroopers in England just before they board airplanes in the first D-Day assault.”

Amphibious landing of Allied infantry and armored divisions on the coast of France commenced D-Day. The operation was the largest single-day amphibious invasion of all time, with more than 130,000 troops landing. More than 195,000 Allied naval and merchant navy personnel were involved.

According to historical recollections, the invasion on five separate beachheads in Normandy was the beginning of the end. By the end of August all of northern France was liberated. The rest of the Allied Forces continued the drive into Germany and eventually met up with Soviet forces. The Nazi regime and Hitler’s tyranny was finally at an end.

For those wanting to go, a stop at the Caen War Memorial will help a visitor understand what was happening in France during the war. The museum shares both sad and heroic tales of an occupied nation.

The Western France Tourist Board stated, “The Caen Memorial continues onward with its historic journey through the 20th century, from the Second World War to the world at the time of the Cold War. It also proposes a debate on the future of the planet.

“Exemplary with the wealth of the collection exhibited and the innovation of its presentation, a unique place. It is the quintessential starting place for an understanding of the events that took place leading to D-Day.”

Tours will often include a visit to the beaches, and a tour guide can describe what happened at each site. Walking the beaches where young men grappled with thundering waves and sharp cliffs bring this part of history to life – the beaches include gaping holes ripped in the earth by bombs from the Allies aimed at entrenched German soldiers, now covered by grass.

Most tours will end at the cemetery that was first established on June 8, 1944, by the U.S. First Army at Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer, which was the first American cemetery on European soil in World War II.
After the war, the present-day cemetery was established a short distance to the south of the original site.

Readers with questions or comments for Cindy Ladage may write to her in care of this publication.