France Top Five: #2 Omaha Beach Memorial

#2 on my list is Omaha Beach and the American Memorial Cemetery
As an American, I felt an overwhelming sense of pride when stepping foot on this soil. Emotions began to take over when imagining the amount of courage and honor it took for the troops, from all walks of life, to come together and fight so hard for what they believed in. This picture shows it all: crosses stand as headstones for the graves and in the background you can see the ocean at Omaha beach where the soldiers invaded Normandy. What I found to be interesting is that this strip of land was given to the United States after the war was won. I was actually in Europe, standing on US soil, which I thought to be pretty cool. Before visiting Omaha beach, we toured the WWII museum that housed authentic relics and hundreds of photographs of the events leading up to WWII as well as photos taken during the war. After leaving the museum, our bus driver made a special stop at a cemetery dedicated to the German soldiers whose lives were lost during the war. The atmosphere at that cemetery was much different than that of the US soldiers. Although the actions of the German Army and what they stood for were considered deplorable, lest not forget that in some cases, many cases, they were being forced to do so.
While at the US soldiers’ cemetery I had the opportunity to watch a ceremony take place honoring a fallen soldier. I stopped in my tracks and watched as former soldiers silently placed flowers on the grave of a brave comrade as family members stood by and watched. Pretty amazing!!