So, we arrived in a little village called Bayeux, near a beach called Juno Beach where the Canadians first landed in World War II. There was a museum there, and we slipped into the daily guided tour just in time- only two minutes to spare. Our guide was nice, and he had to keep switching from english to french because there were other people in the group from other places in France. I could partly understand the French, but I'm missing all the key words... Like tanks or soldiers or grenades or guns.
The tiny building is right on the shore of . . .
The tiny building is right on the shore of . . .
Juno Beach, and just a few meters away from the entrance are big tank-like-guns, 'obstacles' for the tanks and ships (depending whether it was low or high tide), and the original German bunkers, that had once been on top of the ground were now burried in 67 years worth of sand, and now were just poking out of the ground - another smaller one was completely engulfed.
These are the obstacles -- dangerous!
All along Juno Beach, as far to the points as we could see, were thirty bunkers lined up together, and when the Canadians attacked there would've been part of the Atlantic Wall, a huge line of wooden
triangles with mines and bombs strapped to them, all along the coast
of France.
One man, Garth Webb, who had lived through the war had come here with his family many, many years later to visit the site where he fought and to his surprise and disappointment and most likely anger there was nothing about the Canadians. So he went back to Canada and contacted all his old army buddies and friends and family and raised enough money to build a museum. Mom and Dad were really surprised to find out that almost none of the museums here - even throughout France - are supported by the government. Instead, they're privately owned and sponsored. There were flowers piled on top of one gun - a similar gun that Garth Webb used and we soon learned that he had died recently - just a week ago.
triangles with mines and bombs strapped to them, all along the coast
of France.
One man, Garth Webb, who had lived through the war had come here with his family many, many years later to visit the site where he fought and to his surprise and disappointment and most likely anger there was nothing about the Canadians. So he went back to Canada and contacted all his old army buddies and friends and family and raised enough money to build a museum. Mom and Dad were really surprised to find out that almost none of the museums here - even throughout France - are supported by the government. Instead, they're privately owned and sponsored. There were flowers piled on top of one gun - a similar gun that Garth Webb used and we soon learned that he had died recently - just a week ago.
Heading into the German bunkers . . .
The villagers living here were forced to build the bunkers and one
man was sixteen when he worked on them... When he was eighteen the Canadians attacked and somehow he met up with some French-Canadians and he sketched out a map of the whole plan of the bunkers - they then knew all about the connecting bunkers, the fake ventilation systems, the pile of sand and contraption system, and many more German secrets... But that was after the first day, the D-Day, when they had already lost hundreds of soldiers. On D-Day 150, 000 men attacked along the different sections of the beaches - Americans, British, Polish and Canadians. It slipped from my mind the reason, but they named three beaches after fish starting with the letters 'S', 'G', and 'J'. The other two were named Omaha and Utah, randomly, because the person picking names thought they were just cool words and good for a military use. (The Americans took two beaches, The British two, and Canadians one - Polish soldiers were more involved in the massive air-force squads.) 'S' became Sword, 'G' became Gold, and 'J' became... What, jelly fish? They soon discovered that yes, jelly fish was the only fish starting with a 'J', and they weren't about to name their beach Jelly. So they started going through code books, and although the museum doesn't know what fish it stands for, the name became Juno.
Anyways, back to the tour, we went in into the bunkers and he
explained a lot about it. We went onto the beach and he told us how
the Canadians had marched through; explosive experts had to go ahead and blow up the bombs, running behind the tank, then go back and forth and back and forth and back and forth to make a little path for the huge tanks to come through, then they'd do that over again and over again until the Atlantic Wall had a gap in it, all the while the
Nazis shooting at them. After the explosive experts went through the
soldiers followed behind and then the tanks. The guide also explained how Juno Beach was great for tanks - back then it was just hard packed sand with no rocks to mess up the tank's track (Dad says they're called that - you know, the black belt that is attached to the wheels and makes the tank move).
After the tour we went into the museum, which is totally kid friendly and inter-active. They had videos you could watch with head phones explaining about a bunch of different wars. There were also videos of some soldiers who had survived the war, and were being interviewed. One guy remembers being in Holland, and the Germans destroying the dikes so the whole place was flooded. They had to wade through the murky water - so they communicated with the military base and they sent some boots. When the package arrived, it turned out that all the boots were left-footed - so they had to walk all the way through the marshes with two left feet! He said you just had to laugh about it - if you'd cry, you would never survive.
man was sixteen when he worked on them... When he was eighteen the Canadians attacked and somehow he met up with some French-Canadians and he sketched out a map of the whole plan of the bunkers - they then knew all about the connecting bunkers, the fake ventilation systems, the pile of sand and contraption system, and many more German secrets... But that was after the first day, the D-Day, when they had already lost hundreds of soldiers. On D-Day 150, 000 men attacked along the different sections of the beaches - Americans, British, Polish and Canadians. It slipped from my mind the reason, but they named three beaches after fish starting with the letters 'S', 'G', and 'J'. The other two were named Omaha and Utah, randomly, because the person picking names thought they were just cool words and good for a military use. (The Americans took two beaches, The British two, and Canadians one - Polish soldiers were more involved in the massive air-force squads.) 'S' became Sword, 'G' became Gold, and 'J' became... What, jelly fish? They soon discovered that yes, jelly fish was the only fish starting with a 'J', and they weren't about to name their beach Jelly. So they started going through code books, and although the museum doesn't know what fish it stands for, the name became Juno.
Anyways, back to the tour, we went in into the bunkers and he
explained a lot about it. We went onto the beach and he told us how
the Canadians had marched through; explosive experts had to go ahead and blow up the bombs, running behind the tank, then go back and forth and back and forth and back and forth to make a little path for the huge tanks to come through, then they'd do that over again and over again until the Atlantic Wall had a gap in it, all the while the
Nazis shooting at them. After the explosive experts went through the
soldiers followed behind and then the tanks. The guide also explained how Juno Beach was great for tanks - back then it was just hard packed sand with no rocks to mess up the tank's track (Dad says they're called that - you know, the black belt that is attached to the wheels and makes the tank move).
After the tour we went into the museum, which is totally kid friendly and inter-active. They had videos you could watch with head phones explaining about a bunch of different wars. There were also videos of some soldiers who had survived the war, and were being interviewed. One guy remembers being in Holland, and the Germans destroying the dikes so the whole place was flooded. They had to wade through the murky water - so they communicated with the military base and they sent some boots. When the package arrived, it turned out that all the boots were left-footed - so they had to walk all the way through the marshes with two left feet! He said you just had to laugh about it - if you'd cry, you would never survive.
Prepare to be sad.
Afterward we headed to the Canadian cemetary, where 2500 Canadians were buried. It was row after row after row after row after row after row after row after row after row after row after row after row after row after row after row of the same white tomb stone with the Canadian maple leaf carved into it, and their name, date of birth and death, and little message written into it from their family. There is one
grave that Dad had seen twenty years ago, when he had last visited,
and he found it again.
grave that Dad had seen twenty years ago, when he had last visited,
and he found it again.
This is what it says:
He sleeps in a foreign land
In a grave we never see
May God guide some kind hand
To lay a flower for me
Mother
We put our flowers down there, and then left... Now here's a bunch of photos of the Canadian cemetary.
He sleeps in a foreign land
In a grave we never see
May God guide some kind hand
To lay a flower for me
Mother
We put our flowers down there, and then left... Now here's a bunch of photos of the Canadian cemetary.
Are you sad? This is only the Canadian Cemetary, and the American one is devastating; just rows and rows of crosses, and the occasional star. It was an emotional time . . .
I remember a theater production I once saw in Cate's Hill Chapel, with only one person in it. She played three parts; a little girl who grew up there, the little girl's grandmother, and an old military man who was visiting from Montreal to see his brother's grave. She cleaned the graveyard, 'cleaning their windows so they can see out', and this was the place.
It was really sad, but those men and women fought for us. They wanted us to keep living, so they risked their lives to fight. Just say thank you.
-Allie
It was really sad, but those men and women fought for us. They wanted us to keep living, so they risked their lives to fight. Just say thank you.
-Allie
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