This past weekend, my husband and I and about 50 of our closest friends enjoyed a couple of days in Bayeux, France.  This village is only about 20 minutes away, driving time, from the Omaha Beachhead and Gold.  We were able to see Omaha and Gold beaches.  Juno was in-between the 2 British beaches, Gold and Sword and was the Canadian beachhead.  The one spectacular view on Omaha was the statue memorial.

A few of my other favorite pictures from there:

Later, we were able to go to see the War Memorial that was there, just on the other side of Omaha beach.  While we were there, we were able to look at the headstones.  We were not able to find ANYONE who was killed on Omaha Beach, but we found a TON of headstones of Soldiers who was killed at Utah Beach.  They were all part of the Airborne unit.  Interesting factoid:  The paratroopers called the Normandy invasion the $10,000 jump because that’s how much their SGLI (Serviceman’s Group Life Insurance) was worth and that’s what their lives were worth in 1944.  I don’t think they called their insurance SGLI like we do, but it’s the same thing.  Here’s a couple of really fascinating pictures from the memorial.

There are about 20,000 service members buried here.  Some were buried through out Europe because logistically it made sense to bury them here than to ship their bodies back.  There are people that died in 1943 to until about 1945.  The cemetery is closed and no one else is allowed to be buried here.  There are 27 grounds keepers here.  It’s really a site to see.

This is a view of Normandy Beach from the Cemetery.

There are only 4 gold embossed headstones.  The headstones that are embossed with gold are Medal of Honor recipients.  Both of these men are the sons of President Theodore Roosevelt.  T. Jr. is the oldest and fought in both WWI and WWII.  Quentin was the most beloved child and the youngest of all the Roosevelt children.  He died in WWI.

As a side note, Theodore Roosevelt is my favorite president!

Well, thanks for reading and have a great day!