To get to the Omaha beach landing zone in Normandy, you have to go down about 10 minutes of very curvy roads with crumbled houses lining them. Upon exiting the car and stepping onto the beach, I felt very strange and kept imagining the landing craft, artillery and m-40 fire raining hell down upon everything in sight. There were some other young people there with champagne and plastic cups. After sketchily glancing at them and listening to them speak we decided that they were Americans tippin' some out for our homies. I had always imagined the beach with the landing mines, craters and barbed wire, but it was eerily calm and could have been mistaken for any other beach had it not been marked with countless signs, bunkers, and historical monuments on the green hills.
Above the beaches is the Normany American Cemetery and Memorial, where endless white crosses are laid out in 10 monstrous plots. The American flag flies high there which gave me a strange feeling as I had not seen an American flag in the air in ages. Inside the memorial are videos and photos that touch close to the heart of any human being that possesses a soul. Large diagrams on the walls show the battle plans of the assault on each separate beach, who was in command, the chronological process and progress of the allied forces advances through the months, etc. The entire experience left me quite solemn, but satisfied as if I'd finished something that I had been working on for years. I was gratified by calling my dad in the states directly from my cellphone to tell him of my recent experience, but only to be disappointed by him for not having visited the crater faced hills of Utah beach landing zone where the rangers scaled 90 degree cliff faces directly into the face of Nazi defenses - he said this was the best beach to visit -.
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