We visit the grounds, the churches…the beaches…
Angoville-au-Plain is a tiny village in the Normandy region of northwester France where I was fortunate to visit in April 2024. Below is a hyperlink to an article I wrote for our newspaper about my experience.
a little church – a big impression
Carentan-les-Marais – Angoville
Writer Julie A R Stephens with Geneveive Ledoux Marie, the last living survivor from the war in the village of Angoville-au-Plain
medic Robert E. Wright and medic / stretcher bearer Kenneth J. Moore
Pointe du Hoc France
The stained-glass window in the church at Sainte-Mere-Eglise, honoring the Airborne forces who liberated this town on D-Day
June 6, 1944.
Private John Steele Monument
An effigy of a trapped paratrooper dangles from a Normandy church to commemorate one remarkable D-Day event.
Dale Booth, local expert and author, gave us a power tour of the Normandy beaches where in June 1944 the Allied D-Day landings took place.
While we touring Pointe du Hoc France in 2024 a 1944 plane flew overhead
Normandy France
American Cemetery
Our D-Day tour with Dale ended in the American Cemetery, where 9,389 white markers memorialize the Americans who gave their lives on the beaches below.
Normandy American Cemetery
At 5:00, taps played as the American flag was taken down. Before taps the noise level of the crowds was that of the other tourists’ sites; after taps – silence and hushed tones.
Our tour guide Claire and our bus driver Eric
Walking around Bayeux France – Bayeux is a town on the Aure River in the Normandy region of northwestern France
Window shopping
Cathedral of Bayeux
The worst hotel room on our tour – the lighting in our room was so dark it was hard to see and there was no coffee station in our room. I shared my dissatisfaction at the front desk. I was told that I could get coffee anytime in the eating area.
Not only was this not the case – even if it was that’s not the same thing as having a kettle with coffee and tea in the room.
Terrible hotel room.
Tomorrow’s plan
Did the D-Day blog postings touch you?
Listening to Dale, in the church, in the village of Angoville-au-Plain – tears kept coming
After D-day, we get a joy filled day in Claude Monet’s house and inspiring garden. It was the perfect time to go when we went in April. Come see!
“Walks in nature are hugs for my soul.” Julie A R Stephens
julie@handsbestrong.com
My father was on the USS Boston as a navigator in the first phase of three phases of the Normandy Landing. He used to tell me a few stories. It amazed me that when the big guns fired it actually rocked the ship.
Oh wow Steve – I bet he did have stories – a huge thank you to your father. Bruce and I have a sense of those stories now having been in the actual places where D-Day happened – seeing the graves, monuments, hearing the stories from an expert who has studies the topic – how beyond blessed we are to live in a peace…
Thank you most kindly for sharing on this blog post. Upcoming – Claude Monet – his home and inspiring garden – stunning when we were there in April
Once again I enjoyed your pictures and commentary, Julie. It looked like a beautiful day when you were at the cemetery, as it was when my wife and I were there. I wrote down an inscription there that says: “To these we owe the high resolve that the cause for which they died shall live.” I had a brief conversation with an American official there. He closed the conversation by saying: “God bless America.” Indeed, that would be the prayer of all of us.
Thank you, Tom, thank you. And as we ask for blessings upon our country may each of us do what we can to be a blessing in this great country however we can – vote wisely – don’t let history repeat itself – be a volunteer, check in on an elderly neighbor, make a meal for someone who needs it and maybe sit and partake and converse with them…
God bless America and keep us from all evil. Amen