Day 2 in Normandy

June 5, 2011 - Sunday morning we awoke to a rainy day.  Joe said that he knew of no worship services in English, so we took a little time before breakfast to read John 3:16-21. Verse 17 stuck out to me:

"For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."

I was reminded that Jesus did not come to condemn, but to save us from the condemnation that we are already under.  What a blessing to be saved from the condemnation I deserve!

After breakfast at the Chilcotts, we went to pick up the Johnsons.  We were running late and they had decided to walk to the Chilcotts.  They texted us, but for some reason their text did not go through until 11 pm that night.  We were so late finding one another that we decided to go to the German cemetery and then have lunch.  It was cold and rainy, but the German cemetery was worth seeing.  They have small stones marking each grave, and they are arranged in blocks.  In the middle of each block were five black crosses.  Because of all the black, it looked rather grim to me.

 We ate lunch at a nice restaurant, right on the water at Grandcamp-Maisy.  After lunch we went to Pointe du Hoc, where the Rangers climbed the tall cliffs on D-Day under German fire.   The Americans had been bombing the area in preparation for the attack, and it has basically been left, craters and all, as it was. It was raining while we were there, but well worth enduring.

Pointe du Hoc

 Then Joe took us to the American Cemetary at Omaha Beach.  The setting is beautiful, and the white marble crosses are in perfect order, row upon row, marking where many young men and a few women gave their lives to free the French from Nazi domination and protect our own freedoms as well.  It was sobering. From there we went down the hillside,checking out more monuments and German bunkers, to the beach.  It was beautiful, but sobering to think of all the young men who breathed their last breath on that beach.


The Chilcotts have a party each year on the eve of D-day.  And we were all invited.  It is their tradition to serve various curry dishes at the party.  Rosemary and another English friend, Caroline McMillan, had been cooking for several days.  There were about 30 people there from many different countries: England, Holland, Canada, France, Czech Republic, and US (AL, GA, and MN).   It was a delightful evening around their large table.

Active French soldiers marching on Omaha Beach

On Omaha Beach