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The following photos were taken in & around the Normandy D-DAY landing
beaches. My Frau thought I was a little NUTS for taking Capt. Miller with
me. I guess our mates will never understand us guys. But, you guys out
there do understand this once in a life time opportunity. RIGHT!?! SOUND
OFF!!!
The first 5 photos were taken in the Ranger museum. The photo of Capt. Miller standing in front of the mantel is an actual photo of what is left of a farm house that the 5th Rangers took refuge in once they moved inland. The house was eventually destroyed by shelling. I like the two in front of the scale models. Especially the bunker scene. To bad it was behind glass. The next three were taken at Dog Red/White Beach where the 2nd Rangers landed, just like in the movie SPR. You can get an idea of how open the beach was on 6 June 44. The tide was out at the time of the landings. As much as 2-3 hundred yards with no cover! I stood on the beaches & I just couldn't imagine how any of the assault troops survived. We owe alot to those brave HEROES!! Photos 9&10 were taken at the Pointe DU Hoc memorial. This area looks like a lunar landscape with all of the shell holes & blown up bunkers. I took a photo of Capt Miller standing in front of one of the surviving bunker lookouts. When I looked over the 100ft cliff that the 2nd RANGERS had to climb, I was amazed at how they were able to climb up it's shear face!! In some cases the RANGERS used their bayonets dug in the ground hand over hand. Totally amazing!! What courage they had with the Germans shooting straight down at them. The last photo was taken a STE Mere Eglise. This is the famous town that was liberated by the 101st AB DIV when the parachuted in at night. Many of the men were killed while they were coming down. Some were stuck on the church steeple. In the movie LONGEST DAY , Red Buttons plays John Steele who was stuck for 5 hours on the steeple. He played dead after he was shot in the foot. This part of the movie was actually shot in the square back in 1962. While we were in town RANGERS from FT. Benning, GA jumped in with about 10 sticks of 6 troopers each. That was quite a sight. In the crowd of 300 people were some of the HEROES that actually made the jump 56 years ago. I got a chance to talk to some of them. Great bunch of guys. I was proud to shake their hands. I had tears in my eyes when they started to sing God Bless America. Thanks Guys for letting me share these photos with you. Bac Si |
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