Hi,
Something a little different than the usual I camped in the woods, brewed up, got stung, used a leaf for toilet paper, ate a fly but had a great time thread. No offense intended at ANYone posting such things. I love reading as much as the next.
I had gone to the 65th D-Day anniversary in 2009 up at Arromanche and fully intended going to the 70th, but I'd heard that there would be very heavy security at most of the locations, so right up until 2pm Thursday afternoon I'd cancelled any plans on going... besides the bike was sick and I didn't think going in the car was such a bright idea.... that was until I heard the drone of a single engined fighter plane somewhere in the sky whilst working on someone's kitchen, so I thought sod it I've got to at least try. So I cleared it with the people I was working for that I wouldn't be in on Friday and they were fine about that. So at 10.30pm last night I set off in my car heading North towards the beaches and my fate with either having a good time or getting arrested because some gendarme considered my goatee beard evidence I was a security risk.
Got to the outskirts of Port en Bessin just East of Omaha beach around 11.40pm just in time to see the ending of a firework display. To be honest - see one, seen 'em all, but in the field that was being used as a carpark was this little beauty which I would willingly give my front teeth to own.
Got back to the car avoiding the candy floss covered and glowstick carry crowds migrating out and headed West towards Utah beach. On the way I saw two Gendarmes and using a scarf as a cunning plan to cover my goatee asked them if the rumours were true about the closing of the roads. They said it was. So effectively two of the major east-west link roads in North Calvados were being shut down at major inconvenience to one and all, to cater for our betters arriving to pay their respects. As you may have guessed I don't have a lot of time for them really. Back in 2009 I saw veterans shivering under shop awnings in the rain unable to drive to their warm B&Bs because the police had locked down the town for 90mins while Sakozy, Gordon Brown and Charlie turned up to back slap each other. I was disgusted at the shabby way these men were treated.
Anyway, I pressed on to avoid these roads that would be closed for 9 hours and by 1am I got to Sainte-Mére-église You can read a brief history about the place by clicking on the name.
Found a semi empty carpark and got the back of the car sorted out with my sleep mat and sleeping bag and crashed for the night.
7am I was rudely awakened by the sound of a Blackhawk helicopter landing in the football field nearby and I briefly wondered if someone had reported the goatee threat. The fact I was wearing my skivvies in the back of my car was more of a concern since the carpark was now full of cars and people milling about. Thankfully the copter landing distracted the rubber-neckers and I was able to get dressed without the embarrassment of anyone knowing I was wearing my Spiderman underpants. (bu99er! I just said that out loud didn't I?)
Having been rudely awakened I wandered into town in the hopes of foraging breakfast, but the queues outside the bakeries and restaurants made me dig into shoulderbag for my cereal bar stash instead.
In the town square is a monument to the Paratroopers who liberated the town, you can see the dummy of John Steele the paratrooper who got snagged on the steeple in the background. This has become a permanent memorial to that night.
Happy to say that a LOT of the public got into the spirit of the occasion and wore period costume, but it does make me chuckle that so many French choose to be GI's instead of Tommies. Sadly not all those wannabe GI's could do 5 push-ups but they'd give it their best shot. There were a lot of ladies who were also in military uniform but the ones that caught my eye were those in the dresses of that era. To me they looked sooo glamourous.
Around the back of the Airborne museum to the side of the square is a open stretch of ground and this is where the military vehicles camp was stashed and where 90% of the rein-actors were camped. I was honestly tripping over Jeeps left right and centre, but they still look soooo cool. But my favourite was always M3 halftrack. This one looked especially good sporting a brace of .50 cal machine guns.
Here's another in the background with one of the many Jeeps that were there. Note the German helmet trophy behind the driver's seat on the radio mast.
This Sherman tank became a climbing frame for adults of all ages to enjoy. I was tempted to have a look inside, but didn't feel like joining the herd. Instead, I went around the back and looked under it's tail at the engine...
... and drooled. A bit later on this tank fired up it's engine and did a few back and forth maneuvers. I was impressed by how quiet that big radial engine actually is.
Here's a pic for Eric Methven, our resident HAM radio enthusiast to enjoy.
And a predecessor to the Frontier stove perhaps?
I was particularity pleased to see the one piece of German army kit there - a Kubelwagen. This was a close second to my favourite German car of all the Schwimmwagen. Like that Zundap side car outfit above, I'd also give my front teeth to have one of those cars.
Spotted this pin-up under the windscreen of one of the Jeeps... and almost did a public face palm. Maybe I'm being a snob, since I draw pin-up as my other day job, but at least they had a go at doing it. Fair play to them for trying.
Another trophy helmet, and this one was a lot more sinister, the hole in the one shown above was from a rust hole... this obviously was not.
...
And the exit 'wound'. This one was mounted on the front fender of a White Scout Car. (I'm rapidly running out of teeth wanting one of those as well)
This one's for Aunt Sally. No idea of the era this Landy is but it caught my eye with a classic "saw this, thought of you Sally" moment.
More eye candy as well as yet another Jeep in the background.
By about midday I had all I could cope with getting jostled with crowds, so I headed back to the car happy that I'd been able to see just a small part of this event. Saw a veteran being swamped by well wishers and he had such a wide grin on his face, he also had a lipstick mark on his cheek. I was really pleased someone had planted that mark on him. He looked so proud.
Anyway on the way back to the car I saw this example of considerate parking. See a space and jam your car in it... the angle is optional of course. I can pretty much guarantee that this car wouldn't get a ticket either. The French are much more tolerant of this sort of thing.
Got back to the car, dropped off my shoulder bag and camera and was about to get in when a big 4x4 Range Rover pulled up alongside and asked if I was about to leave... in his loudest English. I think he was banking on volume getting the meaning across if the Frenchman didn't understand the Queen's English. I did think about jerking his chain a bit but said "Yup, I'm just about to leave." He looked as though he was about to wet himself in relief at finding such a choice parking spot or maybe discovering I could speak English and he didn't have to resort to sign language.
I had a really good time and would have regretted not going to this event, since it's on my doorstep and all. it would have been rude not to.
The drive back home was fine but there were several exits off the N13 motorway that were closed including the one to Utah beach, and eventually even the N13 was closed off just past Carentan to Isigny-sur-mer. This is the road I'd come up on the night before.
Hope you've found this of interest, sorry to have waffled on so much, but it's what I do. I blame the goatee.
Aaron
Something a little different than the usual I camped in the woods, brewed up, got stung, used a leaf for toilet paper, ate a fly but had a great time thread. No offense intended at ANYone posting such things. I love reading as much as the next.
I had gone to the 65th D-Day anniversary in 2009 up at Arromanche and fully intended going to the 70th, but I'd heard that there would be very heavy security at most of the locations, so right up until 2pm Thursday afternoon I'd cancelled any plans on going... besides the bike was sick and I didn't think going in the car was such a bright idea.... that was until I heard the drone of a single engined fighter plane somewhere in the sky whilst working on someone's kitchen, so I thought sod it I've got to at least try. So I cleared it with the people I was working for that I wouldn't be in on Friday and they were fine about that. So at 10.30pm last night I set off in my car heading North towards the beaches and my fate with either having a good time or getting arrested because some gendarme considered my goatee beard evidence I was a security risk.
Got to the outskirts of Port en Bessin just East of Omaha beach around 11.40pm just in time to see the ending of a firework display. To be honest - see one, seen 'em all, but in the field that was being used as a carpark was this little beauty which I would willingly give my front teeth to own.
Got back to the car avoiding the candy floss covered and glowstick carry crowds migrating out and headed West towards Utah beach. On the way I saw two Gendarmes and using a scarf as a cunning plan to cover my goatee asked them if the rumours were true about the closing of the roads. They said it was. So effectively two of the major east-west link roads in North Calvados were being shut down at major inconvenience to one and all, to cater for our betters arriving to pay their respects. As you may have guessed I don't have a lot of time for them really. Back in 2009 I saw veterans shivering under shop awnings in the rain unable to drive to their warm B&Bs because the police had locked down the town for 90mins while Sakozy, Gordon Brown and Charlie turned up to back slap each other. I was disgusted at the shabby way these men were treated.
Anyway, I pressed on to avoid these roads that would be closed for 9 hours and by 1am I got to Sainte-Mére-église You can read a brief history about the place by clicking on the name.
Found a semi empty carpark and got the back of the car sorted out with my sleep mat and sleeping bag and crashed for the night.
7am I was rudely awakened by the sound of a Blackhawk helicopter landing in the football field nearby and I briefly wondered if someone had reported the goatee threat. The fact I was wearing my skivvies in the back of my car was more of a concern since the carpark was now full of cars and people milling about. Thankfully the copter landing distracted the rubber-neckers and I was able to get dressed without the embarrassment of anyone knowing I was wearing my Spiderman underpants. (bu99er! I just said that out loud didn't I?)
Having been rudely awakened I wandered into town in the hopes of foraging breakfast, but the queues outside the bakeries and restaurants made me dig into shoulderbag for my cereal bar stash instead.
In the town square is a monument to the Paratroopers who liberated the town, you can see the dummy of John Steele the paratrooper who got snagged on the steeple in the background. This has become a permanent memorial to that night.
Happy to say that a LOT of the public got into the spirit of the occasion and wore period costume, but it does make me chuckle that so many French choose to be GI's instead of Tommies. Sadly not all those wannabe GI's could do 5 push-ups but they'd give it their best shot. There were a lot of ladies who were also in military uniform but the ones that caught my eye were those in the dresses of that era. To me they looked sooo glamourous.
Around the back of the Airborne museum to the side of the square is a open stretch of ground and this is where the military vehicles camp was stashed and where 90% of the rein-actors were camped. I was honestly tripping over Jeeps left right and centre, but they still look soooo cool. But my favourite was always M3 halftrack. This one looked especially good sporting a brace of .50 cal machine guns.
Here's another in the background with one of the many Jeeps that were there. Note the German helmet trophy behind the driver's seat on the radio mast.
This Sherman tank became a climbing frame for adults of all ages to enjoy. I was tempted to have a look inside, but didn't feel like joining the herd. Instead, I went around the back and looked under it's tail at the engine...
... and drooled. A bit later on this tank fired up it's engine and did a few back and forth maneuvers. I was impressed by how quiet that big radial engine actually is.
Here's a pic for Eric Methven, our resident HAM radio enthusiast to enjoy.
And a predecessor to the Frontier stove perhaps?
I was particularity pleased to see the one piece of German army kit there - a Kubelwagen. This was a close second to my favourite German car of all the Schwimmwagen. Like that Zundap side car outfit above, I'd also give my front teeth to have one of those cars.
Spotted this pin-up under the windscreen of one of the Jeeps... and almost did a public face palm. Maybe I'm being a snob, since I draw pin-up as my other day job, but at least they had a go at doing it. Fair play to them for trying.
Another trophy helmet, and this one was a lot more sinister, the hole in the one shown above was from a rust hole... this obviously was not.
...
And the exit 'wound'. This one was mounted on the front fender of a White Scout Car. (I'm rapidly running out of teeth wanting one of those as well)
This one's for Aunt Sally. No idea of the era this Landy is but it caught my eye with a classic "saw this, thought of you Sally" moment.
More eye candy as well as yet another Jeep in the background.
By about midday I had all I could cope with getting jostled with crowds, so I headed back to the car happy that I'd been able to see just a small part of this event. Saw a veteran being swamped by well wishers and he had such a wide grin on his face, he also had a lipstick mark on his cheek. I was really pleased someone had planted that mark on him. He looked so proud.
Anyway on the way back to the car I saw this example of considerate parking. See a space and jam your car in it... the angle is optional of course. I can pretty much guarantee that this car wouldn't get a ticket either. The French are much more tolerant of this sort of thing.
Got back to the car, dropped off my shoulder bag and camera and was about to get in when a big 4x4 Range Rover pulled up alongside and asked if I was about to leave... in his loudest English. I think he was banking on volume getting the meaning across if the Frenchman didn't understand the Queen's English. I did think about jerking his chain a bit but said "Yup, I'm just about to leave." He looked as though he was about to wet himself in relief at finding such a choice parking spot or maybe discovering I could speak English and he didn't have to resort to sign language.
I had a really good time and would have regretted not going to this event, since it's on my doorstep and all. it would have been rude not to.
The drive back home was fine but there were several exits off the N13 motorway that were closed including the one to Utah beach, and eventually even the N13 was closed off just past Carentan to Isigny-sur-mer. This is the road I'd come up on the night before.
Hope you've found this of interest, sorry to have waffled on so much, but it's what I do. I blame the goatee.
Aaron
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