D-Day reprise

Because of our travel challenges on D-Day itself, we couldn't get to the American Cemetery at Omaha Beach.  We remedied that today, so you'll get just a taste more of what it means here.

First, meet Eric and Sally, British re-enactors.

Anita just had to learn first hand how the 1940s hairstyle was done, so she emerged from her normally shy and reserved shell (ha!) and approached Sally to get the details.  After several minutes of learning all about it, along with the ins and outs of "Victory Rolls", a friend of theirs joined us.  This was the first year the friend's father was no longer alive to visit the grave of his buddy who was killed by a German sniper while carrying John Steele to safety after Steele's frightening experience on the steeple at Ste. Mere-Eglise.  Meeting someone that close to such an iconic event helped connect us more firmly to the place.


Another thing was this simple display in the visitor center:  It's a graphic reminder that on such a day as that, lives are cut short without warning, and other lives have to move on, leaving a simple plea for those coming after to do something more permanent with the remains of those who gave it all.






 And eventually that happened. Over 9,000 bodies are buried at this cemetery, not a full count to be sure, but a large enough collection to remind the world that when enough people are willing to make enough of a sacrifice, the world can be a better place.

We finally left D-Day behind, and spent most of the afternoon driving to our B&B near Mont St. Michel.  This is the only glimpse we had of it today; more to come tomorrow:

One interesting bit of history was found at the restaurant where we had dinner.  It seems that another "telegraph" was invented in the 18th century by Claude Chappe. It worked visually, much like semaphores.  Two swiveling arms were affixed at either end of a central supporting bar, so that the arms could be positioned independently from one another and from the center bar.  Made large enough to be seen with telescopes far away, it was used for signaling over great distances (for the late 18th century), but it was soon supplanted by the electric telegraph.  This unit's crossbar is about 10 feet long, but they were built as big as thirty feet.

Tomorrow, Mont St. Michel and St. Malo, farther along the coast.