Today we would be touring the D-Day invasion beaches in Normandy. To simplify the day, we would start at Arromanches and head west.
This small town was ground zero for the D-Day invasion. Almost overnight, it sprouted the immense Port Winston, which gave the Allies a foothold in Normandy, allowing them to begin their victorious but difficult push to Berlin and the end of World War II. Port Winston was used by the British and Canadian invasion forces.
JOn June 6, 1944, British troops drove the Germans out of Arromanches. On June 7, old ships crossed the English Channel under their own steam, and were sunk by their crews from bow to stern, forming the first shelter. Then, 115 football-field-size cement blocks (Mulberries) were towed across the channel and sunk, creating a four-mile-long breakwater located a mile and half offshore -- a port the size of Dover, England. Finally, seven floating steel "pierheads" with extendable legs were set up; they were linked to shore by four mile long floating roads made of concrete platoons. Anti-aircraft guns were set up on the pontoons. Within just 6 days of operation, 54,000 vehicles, 326,000 troops and 110,000 tons of goods had been delivered. An Allied toehold on Normandy was secure. Eleven months later, Hitler was dead and the war was over.
View of mulberries
Looking to the cliffs to the west
The mulberry harbor in full operation in June 1944
An American Sherman tank
Walking down the ramp to shore known as Gold Beach, you pass by a harbor road segment that sat atop floating concrete caissons.
What the floating roads looked like
Looking at the pieces of the harbor still left on the beach and in the water
Children on the beach with harbor pieces in the distance
Great concrete boxes called caissons were sunk in side the ring of sunken ships to form floating roadways which allowed for unloading of ships during any kind of tide condition.
We had beautiful weather.
Looking at the caissons
Another view of the caissons
The juxtaposition of things such as children playing on the beach in view of the debris in the harbor or a merry-go-round that overlooks the beach where many lives were lost, makes for a thoughtful day.
A carousel horse honoring the United States.
Bex chose the swan.
James posing with a half-tank. We saw many, many Americans here and at every other stop during our tour of the beaches.
Today we would be touring the D-Day invasion beaches in Normandy. To simplify the day, we would start at Arromanches and head west.
This small town was ground zero for the D-Day invasion. Almost overnight, it sprouted the immense Port Winston, which gave the Allies a foothold in Normandy, allowing them to begin their victorious but difficult push to Berlin and the end of World War II. Port Winston was used by the British and Canadian invasion forces.
JOn June 6, 1944, British troops drove the Germans out of Arromanches. On June 7, old ships crossed the English Channel under their own steam, and were sunk by their crews from bow to stern, forming the first shelter. Then, 115 football-field-size cement blocks (Mulberries) were towed across the channel and sunk, creating a four-mile-long breakwater located a mile and half offshore -- a port the size of Dover, England. Finally, seven floating steel "pierheads" with extendable legs were set up; they were linked to shore by four mile long floating roads made of concrete platoons. Anti-aircraft guns were set up on the pontoons. Within just 6 days of operation, 54,000 vehicles, 326,000 troops and 110,000 tons of goods had been delivered. An Allied toehold on Normandy was secure. Eleven months later, Hitler was dead and the war was over.
View of mulberries
Looking to the cliffs to the west
The mulberry harbor in full operation in June 1944
An American Sherman tank
Walking down the ramp to shore known as Gold Beach, you pass by a harbor road segment that sat atop floating concrete caissons.
What the floating roads looked like
Looking at the pieces of the harbor still left on the beach and in the water
Children on the beach with harbor pieces in the distance
Great concrete boxes called caissons were sunk in side the ring of sunken ships to form floating roadways which allowed for unloading of ships during any kind of tide condition.
We had beautiful weather.
Looking at the caissons
Another view of the caissons
The juxtaposition of things such as children playing on the beach in view of the debris in the harbor or a merry-go-round that overlooks the beach where many lives were lost, makes for a thoughtful day.
A carousel horse honoring the United States. 
Bex chose the swan.
James posing with a half-tank. We saw many, many Americans here and at every other stop during our tour of the beaches.
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