Day 28 - Monday, May 21st - Mont St. Michel to Bayeux

Today was, again, not the most ideal of weather, but we made our way over to the Normandy beaches and the D-Day sights.  The next three days are what Terry came to France to see.  He's endured castles and ruins, chateaus and cathedrals for me, so the next three days are all his.  Three days out of the last four weeks; a fair exchange, wouldn't you say?

Our first stop was Saint-Mère-Eglise, the initial parachute drop behind enemy lines and thus the first town to be liberated by the Americans.  Up until today my only knowledge of this town was from the movie "The Longest Day" where Red Buttons dangled from the church steeple for hours.  And come to find out, there really was a parachutist that got stuck dangling from the steeple, his name as John Steele.  He has become a local hero and he came back numerous times to visit the town after the war was over.

Just down the street was a terrific museum, the Airborne museum.  This was a highlight for Terry, and I enjoyed it too.  The museum had lots and lots of memorabilia, a WWII glider, tanks, and a C-47. Fascinating!

From there we drove to another museum called "Deadman's Corner Museum".  This was unique in that it actually contains a huge collection of authentic WWII memorabilia that the owner had collected by either purchasing it from or donated by service men who wanted their mementos to be protected for years to come for others to see.  A uniform from Lt. Winters of "Band of Brothers" is there.

Our final stop, and the subject of our photo of the day, is Utah Beach which was one of the two beaches for which the Americans had the responsibility of capturing.

Utah Beach