Omaha Beach
June18, 2024
On Tuesday morning we checked out of the hotel in Caen and took the bus for a guided tour of the Normandy Beaches. This continued our commemoration of events on D-Day 80 years ago.
The French refer to it as "Jour J."
After we visited the beaches and saw the monuments there, we entered the museum, spending time looking at various exhibits and watching a short video.
Then as a group we walked out to tour the American Cemetery. My pictures show just a fraction of the graves.
We then gathered at the monument for our program. We sang an arrangement of the Star-Spangled Banner to start. Then there was an inspirational short talk, and members of the choir presented the wreath. We then turned back around and sang "America the Beautiful." We sang three stanzas. The women sang the text on the second one while the men sang our notes on "ooh." I was glad. Given the context, I doubt I could have kept going singing the words that were all too real there.
O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
It was still appropriately emotional enough. We concluded the ceremony with two stanzas of "My Country ’Tis of Thee."
