Utah Beach
Normandy France
Ol' Army Joel and actor that played "the Old Private Ryan" in Saving Private Ryan at the Iron Mike Drop Zone on the 60th D-Day Anniversary Celebration
Utah Beach was not as deadly as Omaha. In fact, a good portion of the casualties were Quarter Masters who were unloading supplies after the initial waves. These shells were from the German battery stationed at St Marie du Mont which was a small French town about 10 km away. These were the same guns assaulted by the 1/506 PIR and featured in the Spielburg mini series "Band of Brothers." Above is a German bunker about 100 meters behind the beach. There was a MG copula on top that looked like it took a Bazooka round. Investigating the bunker is my steadfast, right hand man, MSG Williams who served with the 101st Airborne in Iraq.
View of the memorials and park area.
Commo bunker behind the beach. It is now a bar, souvenir shop, and Internet Cafe'. There is only one computer and French keyboards are different than the rest of the world. You can only type about 3 words a minute. I had the honor of ordering a 2004 Harley Davidson Heritage Softail Classic from this bunker via the Internet. I now ride my American steel in formation with Germans and Americans alike!
A look down the beach from a German gun position.
Memorial on top of a German bunker. It is cold here, even in summer. Even though we live in Germany, my fellow soldiers have thin blood for the cold wind coming off the English Channel.
Memorial with bunker visible underneath. This was the American command post and helped orchestrate the unloading of the flood of American war materiel.
