Today’s post highlights Normandy as a place for remembrance, commemoration, celebration… and much more. This post was written by European Experiences’ team member Kelly Wood, a PhD candidate in Modern French History at New York University. Kelly initiated and took the lead role in developing The Normandy Experience, offered for the first time in 2023.

Normandy is a place for remembrance, commemoration, celebration… and also much more.

Seven years ago, in 2017, I traveled to Normandy for the 73^rd anniversary of the D-Day landings. I had been to Normandy before, when I was 13 years old, but didn’t remember much besides the town of Honfleur and the French celebrating wins during the 2006 FIFA World Cup. This time, I was coming just after having finished my two masters degrees in history – accompanied by fellow historians, including one from Normandy. I was much more cognizant of and prepared to appreciate the historical significance of the region.

The trip was full of surprises, the first being that we began participating in D-Day anniversary events on June 5 (not June 6)! On the evening of June 5, my friend and her family took us to Pegasus Bridge, where a small café was packed to the brim and a British brass band in dress uniforms played music outside in the rain. This was the first time I learned that the soldiers who landed on the beaches were not the first to set foot in Normandy. Rather, late on the night of June 5, a joint Anglo-American operation deployed 822 aircraft and 23,400 airborne troops – from one British division (6^th British Airborne) and two American divisions (82^nd and 101^st Airborne) – over landing zones in Normandy.

At 12:16 am on June 6, 1944, British paratroopers landed at Bénouville Bridge, the first Allied troops to set foot in France as part of Operation Overlord. Now called Pegasus Bridge, in honor of the 6^th British Airborne Division whose emblem was a man on a winged horse, the bridge was secured within 10 minutes. The troops’ mission, like those of the other Allied paratroopers who landed early on June 6, was to secure inland bridges, to protect the flanks, open up roadways to the interior, and hinder a surge of German soldiers and artillery once Operation Neptune began.

The original Pegasus Bridge on the grounds of the Pegasus Memorial

It was a special visit; on the days we visited D-Day sites, the weather was cold, windy, and a little rainy, giving us a small idea of what the soldiers landing at the beaches might have experienced, and lending an even more solemn air to our touring.

This was contrasted by the somewhat fantastical sight of men dressed as Allied soldiers, in period military vehicles – so detailed that I even saw one man carrying a radio on his back – or drinking beers outside bars decorated to mark the occasion. It felt like being in the food tent on the set of a film about the war, this startling divergence between accurate historical representation and a modern environment.

D-Day reenactors in 2017

The events for each anniversary of D-Day strike a balance between commemoration and celebration, something that is also felt by visitors as they take in the history of the region, regardless of when they visit. The realities of June 6, 1944, and the ensuing Battle of Normandy, were horrific and are sobering to recall, as thousands died on D-Day – there were 12,000 Allied and between 4,000 and 9,000 German casualties – and thousands more in the following months as the Allies forged their way through the Norman marshes and hedgerows inland. The sacrifice of these men is honored not just on June 6 of every year, but with every visitor to military cemeteries, battle sites, and the beaches.

At the same time, the invasion of Normandy set into motion the Liberation of Europe; Paris was liberated on August 25, 1944, and victory in Europe followed on May 8, 1945. Re-establishing an Allied operational foothold on mainland Europe made possible the defeat of the Reich, Nazism, and oppression across Europe, a cause for celebration, certainly. News articles about anniversary celebrations describe a fair-like atmosphere, which we might imagine recall the relief and joy that accompanied soldiers as they liberated villages and towns across Europe. Commemorating sacrifice and celebrating victories exist in symbiosis here in Normandy.

The 80th Anniversary of the D-Day Landings

June 6, 2024, marked the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings, and world leaders, tourists, veterans, and historians flocked to Normandy to commemorate and celebrate this monumental operation, the sacrifice of thousands of young men, and the beginning of the liberation of Europe.

Today, the youngest veterans of the war are in their mid-90s, with many over the age of 100. [Our family had a very close and dear neighbor, who unfortunately passed last year at the age of 100, who fought in the Battle of the Bulge.] According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, as of 2023, just under 120,000 of the 16.4 million Americans who served in World War II – less than one percent – were still alive. There are estimated to be only a few thousand veterans across the world alive today who landed in Normandy on D-Day.

The American National World War II Museum has generated an extremely sobering statistic that by 2035, less than 1,000 American veterans of the war will still be alive, and that there are, on average, 131 deaths of U.S. WWII veterans every day. It feels callous to reduce these men’s lives to mere numbers – something that we do try to confront with our visits to the D-Day sites – but it does signify that the living witnesses to this critical part of history are becoming fewer and fewer.

As the war retreats further back in our collective memory, there is a concern that many today don’t really know what D-Day was, or perhaps don’t understand the full significance of the largest, most complex, and most ambitious amphibious operation in history. Many who attended events for the 80^th anniversary of the landings expressed a chilling fear that lack of awareness means not only forgetting these men and their service and sacrifices, but also forgetting the gravity of what was at risk and what they were fighting for.

The Normandy Experience – Understanding D-Day

After several years of research (and delays due to the global pandemic), we launched our Normandy Experience trip with two groups in 2023. We also welcomed two more groups to Normandy in May 2024. Understanding D-Day is a very important and memorable part of this trip.

Dean Watson was one of our guests on our first Normandy Experience trip last year.  Dean’s father was in the U.S. Army’s 90th Infantry Division when he landed on Utah Beach. Our stop at Utah Beach was extremely meaningful and personal for Dean, who recalled that “stand[ing] on the beach was quite awesome, to see how far the soldiers had to run for cover while being shot at is unbelievable.”

Dean and Cathy at Utah Beach (2023)

We collaborated in advance with our dedicated D-Day guide, Thierry, after learning some information about Dean’s father’s service, and were able to locate a monument to the 90th Infantry Division at Utah Beach. As Dean’s wife Cathy noted, most other tours leave out Utah Beach altogether, likely because it’s usually too far for a day trip, especially from Paris! Based in Bayeux for our Normandy week, we we have the ideal location for reaching D-Day sites, as well as for accessing the many other interesting and captivating aspects of this beautiful and interesting region.

We are fortunate to have a fantastic local partner who works with us to put together a full day of D-Day visits best suited to our group. We learned from Thierry about the existence of an incredibly special site, the church at Angoville-au-Plain, also known as the medics’ church, where two U.S. Army medics, Ken Moore and Bob Wright, created an aid station. Here they treated over 80 American and German soldiers, refusing to allow weapons into the church, creating a kind of neutral zone as they sought out men on the battlefield to bring back to the church to treat. They used the pews as makeshift beds, and you can still see blood stains, another tangible and lasting reminder of the realities of the war. These mens’ story of courage really resonates with our groups and symbolizes the humanity of these soldiers, despite their different allegiances and beliefs.

A thought-provoking stop at the church in Angoville-au-Plain (2024)

Kathy French, who has joined us on several tours and traveled with us to Normandy this year, appreciated having both a full-day dedicated to D-Day as well other important sites included in our week. This is equal parts logistics and the historian in me wanting to share such interesting places with our travelers and was important as well to my mom Kathy.  I found Pegasus Bridge and the stories of Allied paratroopers such an interesting and much less-known aspect of D-Day that I wanted our groups to also experience this moment of learning something new, in the same way that we look forward to sharing the medics’ church with our travelers.

Including other D-Day sites throughout our week in Normandy is also an implicit reminder that the war, D-Day, and the rest of Operation Overlord touched every corner of and every person in the region, and that locals live side-by-side with this harsh, sobering history every day.

At Utah Beach (2023)

Visiting World War II Military Cemeteries

We visit three military cemeteries during our week in Normandy – one American (the Normandy American Cemetery), one Commonwealth or Canadian, and one German. While Americans and French (and in Normandy, Germans) tend to build larger military cemeteries, bringing together the graves (or memorials) of the war dead from a broad swath of territory, the British Commonwealth has a tradition of burying their war dead closer to where they fell; as a result, there are well over a dozen Commonwealth military cemeteries in Normandy, some in the middle of towns that you might pass on your way to the store, others just off busy thoroughfares that you may speed past without a second thought, and yet others that are tucked away in the middle of fields or in tree-lined enclosures. These cemeteries are ever-present memorials to what happened there, difficult to avoid even if you wanted to; they have become the background of locals’ daily lives.

At the Bény-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery

We also visit these three cemeteries to demonstrate how different nations commemorate their war dead, a special interest of mine. Many, like recent traveler Ray Belanger, find the Normandy American Cemetery to be a spiritual experience. Where the American cemetery is striking for its uniformity and enormity, focusing on the kind of collective nature of military service, tombstones at the British cemeteries include messages from the soldiers’ family, a beautiful tribute to the individual.

Today, Omaha Beach is not just a site of remembrance, but also a “pleasure” beach, something that Ray found uplifting, to see people enjoying the beaches that so many men sacrificed to liberate from tyranny and oppression. While some may find sunbathers, children playing in the water, and people windsurfing on this site of bloodshed to be disrespectful, others find that it fulfills what many fought for: that these people can live their lives freely, as they please. At the very least, it recalls the duality of commemoration and celebration, solemnity and joy.

Omaha Beach today

As a historian of the Second World War and the postwar period, I sometimes feel I’m a bit jaded, or maybe numb, to the horrors and tragedies of the war, having read so much about them. But everyone I interviewed told me that visiting the sites made D-Day feel tangible, and as Lilly Correa remarked “no amount of reading or watching films can completely visualize the carnage and intensity of those battles.”

The Enormity of D-Day

Seven thousand ships, including 4,000 landing craft and 1,200 warships, landed on the five beaches – Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, Sword – on June 6, bringing ashore over 130,000 men from the US, Britain, Canada, France, Poland, Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, Luxembourg, Greece, Norway, and (former) Czechoslovakia. Of those, there were about 12,000 casualties on June 6 alone. By the end of the month, 850,279 men, 148,803 vehicles and 570,505 tons of supplies had landed in Normandy. For me, numbers like these feel very abstract and difficult to grasp, as the scale is so large and difficult to conceptualize.

Remains of the temporary Mulberry harbor at Arromanches

But walking through places like Pointe du Hoc, Omaha Beach, Utah Beach, Sainte-Mère-Église, and the medics’ church help contextualize and humanize the war, as we see first-hand what challenges Allied troops had to face as they arrived in France in June 1944.

In Sainte-Mère-Église (2024)

The Mosaic of Normandy Today

Visiting Normandy in 2017 was a further epiphanic experience for me, as I discovered that the region was a dynamic mosaic of historical events, beautiful landscapes, and cultural practices, and had much more to offer besides what had happened to it in June and July 1944. My friend took us to an apple farm where we tasted different ciders and Calvados; we visited her family’s cattle farm where we realized just how agricultural the region is; we biked for hours on an old train track-turned-bike path; we learned about the history of William the Conqueror in Normandy; and explored the harbor and backstreets of Honfleur.

I came home from these few days in Normandy raving to my mom about what a great tour a week in Normandy would make. As we further investigated the possibility of a Normandy Experience, my mom went on a special tourism-industry tour of the region. In 2021 we met up to spend several weeks together in Normandy and discovered enough activities, towns, and experiences to fill several weeks of a Normandy trip! In The Normandy Experience we’ve tried to best represent the region as we know and appreciate it:  savoring its culinary treasures, delighting in its medieval history and impressionist ties, learning about daily life and regional culture, and exploring its beautiful towns.

Much more to experience in Normandy – visit to an apple farm (2023)

Our travelers do appreciate the balance we’ve created on this Experience. As Cathy Watson remarked, “being there on a slow travel experience added so much depth and variety. You curated so many quality stops, yet still allowed time for us to explore or to rest.” In fact, for some, like Lilly, the initial lure for this trip was not the World War II history, but rather our “unique EE experience of immersion into the broader history (Bayeux cathedral and tapestry) and the culinary and cultural exposure to Normandy, its ancient history, and special culinary delights (the cheeses!).”

A day in the beautiful town of Honfleur (2024)

Our aim with the Normandy Experience is both to bear appropriate and meaningful witness to the events of the Second World War that took place in Normandy and to reveal to our travelers the dynamism and distinct culture of the region. Normandy is a place of remembrance, commemoration, and celebration; we want to highlight that important time 80 years ago, but we also want to experience much more of this very special region of France.

We’re offering The Normandy Experience again next year, September 3 – 10. 2025. This is a special opportunity to experience first-hand many of the important sites of the D-Day invasion 80 years ago… the places of remembrance, commemoration and celebration. The week also includes broader cultural experiences in this beautiful and interesting area of France. This Experience trip will have a meaningful impact on you! Learn more on our website and contact us with questions or to book your spots.

We also visit World War II sites on The Alsace Experience, The Chianti Experience and The Mediterranean Provence Experience.

Our Slow Travel Tours colleague, Randy Gaulke of Knee Deep Into History, offers indepth battlefield tours of World War I and World War II sites, including Normandy.  Learn more about his tours at https://kneedeepintohistory.com/ See his recent blog post A Normandy Battlefield Tour can be a Meaningful Experience.

Sources

Special thanks to Lilly, Kathy, Ray, Cathy and Dean for sharing their reactions and experiences with me.

National World War II Museum, “D-Day and the Normandy Campaign,” https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/topics/d-day-and-normandy-campaign?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI9Prw9La7hgMVpzrUAR05GQD5EAAYASAAEgJGMfD_BwE.

National World War II Museum, “Research Starters: D-Day,” https://www.nationalww2museum.org/students-teachers/student-resources/research-starters/research-starters-d-day

Imperial War Museum, “10 Things You Need to Know about D-Day,” https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-10-things-you-need-to-know-about-d-day

U.S. Department of Defense, “D-Day: The Beaches,” https://dod.defense.gov/Portals/1/features/2016/0516_dday/docs/d-day-fact-sheet-the-beaches.pdf

“In the Company of Heroes: U.S. veterans return to Normandy” (documentary by NBC Sports, 23:54 minutes):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBGkeKoh-YU

Kelly Wood is an advanced PhD candidate at New York University, studying Modern European and French History. She first visited Normandy at age13 with her parents Kathy and Charley, founders of European Experiences, and has now returned to the region many times. Kelly has been actively involved with European Experiences since its start in 2006. After joining several early European Experiences groups, Kelly co-led two Luberon trips with Charley in 2014 and was a key part of the research team for the Cotswolds, Périgord and Alsace trips and later played the lead role in developing The Normandy Experience. She has been co-leader with Kathy for several trips, including The Normandy Experience . Kelly also handles a variety of special projects for European Experiences. Kelly received her B.A. in International Studies from the University of Chicago and dual Masters’ degrees in International/World History from Columbia University and the London School of Economics. Beginning at a very young age, Kelly has extensive experience living, traveling, studying, and researching in France and other European countries. She recently spent 3+ years living in Paris and traveling to other regions of France for her dissertation research.