just got to say this...

nmayhew

Member since
July 2003
From: Kent, England

just got to say this...

Posted by nmayhew on Wednesday, June 9, 2004 3:19 PM

hi guys,

just got back from 4 days in normandy...
went to bayeaux and omaha cemetaries, saw a march past of all the vets at bayeaux...
stood on omaha beach, went to st mere eglise...
had an LCI driver give me first hand account of his landings...
and walked with a 6th airborne vet as he revisited pegasus bidge for the first time in 60 years...

my respect and admiration for these guys was, i thought, always of the highest: after the most moving 4 days of my life i'm completely lost for words, except perhaps, THANK YOU.

regards,

nick

ps i haven't had a chance to look yet, so if there's a thread with everyone's thoughts already, then i apologise; i just had to get this down as soon as i got back.
i'd be interested to hear of other people's experiences....

Kind regards, Nicholas

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fightnjoe

Member since
September 2011

Posted by fightnjoe on Wednesday, June 9, 2004 3:29 PM

sounds like a moving experience. for me a trip to pearl harbor would be the same. i would see all the ships in their births as they were on that fateful day. the cries of the wounded, the smell of the burning fuel. it would be emotions that would rule the trip. i am glad you were able to experience the feelings of history associated with the area.

joe

Veterans,

Thank You For Your Sacrifices,

Never To Be Forgotten

Where you can find me:

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, June 9, 2004 3:33 PM

One of these days I will go and see it... I am glad you got the opportunity...

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, June 9, 2004 3:39 PM

Same here, soon. I'm glad you got to go.

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spector822002

Member since
December 2003
From: Southern Maine

Posted by spector822002 on Wednesday, June 9, 2004 3:45 PM

I have had 2 customers that were 2nd and third wave respectivly into the invasion , they said little about it , nor did I push them for info about it , but the memory did really seem to bother them . They were both really nice guys, and we salute all of the veterans of that day ! Bow [bow]

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tigerman

Member since
March 2003
From: Rain USA, Vancouver WA

Posted by tigerman on Wednesday, June 9, 2004 5:20 PM

You lucky guy Nick, wish I could have made it there.

Eric

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renarts

Member since
April 2003
From: Sunny Florida

Posted by renarts on Wednesday, June 9, 2004 5:59 PM

I hope while at Bayeux you got a chance to see the memorial to another famous amphibious assault that originated in Bayeux and ended in England. That being the Bayeux Tapestry that chronicles the Norman Landings in 1066. Awesome piece of work...

So...while at Normandy, did you make the run from the waterline to the bluffs? Just to see what it was like (at least in distance)?

Each time I go to a historic battlefield, I try to put myself in the shoes, boots, sandles, moccasins...of the participants and do something particular to that battle. Just to appeciate if only in spirit the endavor it took to do something like that. To look from the waterline at Omaha at the bluffs during low tide doesn't look so far. Then you start to remember that the mg42 fires 700 rpm..... chilling.

To be able to see the sites that we only read about adds a whole new meaning and perspective.

Mike "Imagination is the dye that colors our lives" Marcus Aurellius A good friend will come and bail you out of jail...but, a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, "Damn...that was fun!"