On June 1st, 1944 - the BBC in London broadcasted the first three lines of Paul Verlaines Poem „Chanson d‘Automne“ - carefully listened by a variety of people in Nazi Occupied France:
„Les sanglots longs - Des violons - De l'automne ..."
(The long sighs - Of the violins - Of autumn...)
A few days later - on the 5th of June - around 23:15 - the next three lines followed:
„... Blessent mon coeur - D'une langueur - Monotone."
(...Hurt my heart - With a languor - Of sameness)
These lines signaled that the long awaited Allied Invasion would start within the next 24h. The underground fighters of the Resistance had to start actions of sabotage immediately - like cutting phone lines and blowing up railways to prevent communication and reinforcement of the german troops at the coastline of Normandy. At the same time - 24.000 Allied Paratroopers were flying over the Channel in thousands of Aircrafts and Gliders - ready for their parachutes to drop in on enemy territory with the main goal to block and capture strategic important points and protect the beachheads against any upcoming German counter-attacks.
Operation Overlord has started - the biggest amphibious invasion in history - to break through the Atlantikwall, establish and unite several beachheads in Normandy to form the hardly needed second frontline against Nazi Germany.
The actions at night were followed by the main invasion in the morning of June 6th, 1944. Thousands of soldiers and vehicles landed on 5 beaches from Sainte-Mère-Église to Caen - Codenames Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword. This Day went down in history as Decision Day aka D-Day.
Source: www.ibiblio.org
75 years later, in the cold morning of June 6th, 2019, I found myself in Grandcamp-Maisy near the landing beaches with tripod and camera in my backpack, while I was trying to get to Omaha Beach before 6.30AM, the time of the beginning of the invasion. I had to get up at 2.45am to hike 15 km to Colleville-Sur-Mer because there was no other way.
Most of the access roads were closed, the only bike-rental was sold out, the estimated price for a cab was minimum 110.- and the bus system was closed down for the whole day. Luckily, I read this somewhere two weeks earlier. So I gave up my originally planned campingsite near Bayeux because there wouldn’t be a realistic chance for me to get to Omaha Beach on time. But I also knew that it would be hard to find a place closer to Omaha Beach. Absolutely everything was booked for months. So, there was a high risk for me of failing. I had no idea that the „closed roads“ wouldnt be that closed. After a long afternoon scrolling through Google-Maps, several applications, an endless number of emails aswell as a brandnew Couchsurfer account - I finally found a very nice and cheap place in Grandcamp-Maisy. There was only the problem of getting there with public transportation.
At the beginning of June 2019, I spent some wonderful days at the mindblowing Mont-Saint-Michel on the French coast where Capa, Hemingway, Pyle and all important war-correspondents did also spend some time after the invasion in 1944. I did it the other way around and prepared and planned the details of my upcoming trip from there. Its a beautiful but very touristic place with a very bad transportation system - there was only one train each day - at 10:37. Luckily, I didn’t miss that train and 3.5h on train and 80.- on Taxi later I was sitting on a couch in an old 80s style trailer - the office of a very kind and lovely Lady who tried her best to speak English with me:
„Bonjour - you are Martin the photographer!?“ - „Oui Madame - It’s me! Merci beaucoup“
The Entry and reception of Camping du Fort Samson (Aire Naturelle) in Grandcamp-Maisy. Thank You so much!
Here I was! 15 hours until H-Hour of D-Day +75 YRS! I was exhausted and nervous but also very happy and knew that nothing would stop me to get to that beach on time. I went to bed at 8pm to get some rest. The campingsite was already filled with reenactor groups and their vehicles. I was sourrounded by C-47 Airplanes, Jeeps, old Motorcycles, Trucks and people in uniforms from all over europe - Spain, France, Belgium, Italy, Ukraine and what not.
God brought us to you
June 6, 2019
I woke up at 2.45 and the first thing I saw was the Milky Way in the sky. Although I had absolutly no time for some Milky Way Panorama, I managed to take at least 2 photos before I started to hike to Colleville. I was confident and motivated to take everthing thats necessary to get my photos from the morning at Omaha Beach. I walked out of the camping site and turned left towards the beach but immediately turned around and took another way. A good decision. One moment later a car stopped in front of me:
„You speak english? Is this Omaha Beach?“ a man asked
„No it’s not Omaha beach - but I know where it is. I am on my way to get there... is there some space left in your car?“
„Get in man“ he answered
Inside the car was a family from North Carolina - Marc, Nancy and Jeff. Marc - the son - served in the US Navy and participated at the official D-Day Event 5 Years ago on a warship in the Bay of Seine.
„I am Martin - a photographer. I know the way“
„Martin - you know - God brought us to you“ responded Jeff - the father.
I never heared someone saying that before and couldn’t stop laughing. We arrived at Vierville-Sur-Mer and drove around at Omaha Beach to find a good spot for parking. We met other families from the US - from Washington and New York. I asked myself if they also had a strange Gordon Shumway hitch-hiker in their cars. We decided to park at Colleville-Sur-Mer at the parking lot of the famous first American Cemetery. On this day the area was a high security zone due to the offical events - but around 3.30am - no one cared and everyone was busy to built stages, tents and to setup chairs.
I was still a bit dizzy and doubted that this was really happening. I mean - how lucky can you be?
I said goodbye to the family and took my camera. I walked a few meters and there I was - Omaha Beach.
Widerstandsnest 62
I walked down the hill towards the beach where the deadly WN62 was still guarding the Channel.
75 years earlier - thousands of young GIs were wounded or killed from that bunkers. Nazi Heinrich Severloh at the machine gun MG-42 shot around 9 hours and claimed, that he had killed the most soldiers during WW2. He also said in an interview (read here) that he would have had a „bad conscience“ if he would have left. WTF!
I started to take my first panorama at 4am - the same time when in 1944 thousands of boats appeared at the horizon, followed by thousands of airplanes. They started a 2 hours long aeral and naval pre-landing bombardment to destroy the bunkers and to create massive craters in the sand where the soldiers could take cover. But they failed. Nothing was hit. When you see Bunkers like WN62 and how well they are camouflaged and positioned - it’s so hard to imagine what it takes to land successfully on that beach and break through that defense lines. You realize why there are almost 10.000 graves - just a few meters away.
Widerstandsnest 62 / Omaha Beach - Sector Easy Red
June 6th, 2019 / 03:56 - 4:08AM
HDR Panorama - 36 single shots
2 rows a 6 frames - 3 exposures for each frame
Nikon D810 / Samyang 24mm - ISO 160 - f/8 - 4 / 8 / 15 seconds
Note:
I like the first Panorama very much. Its not about romanticizing Nazi Stuff. I think this Picture reveals the big contrasts of this place and therefore war itself. This bunker was built to protect a few lives with the purpose of killing as much people as possible, strangely sneaking into to a peaceful and harmonic scenery, well camouflaged and hard to reach. It also gives you a good idea about the incredible distance from the shores with no places to hide from gunfire.
I took these photos around 4am - slightly before the ships arrived at the horizon in 1944 - and the things you could hear now - instead of the outbreak of hell - were dozens of birds tweeting inside the bunker, because that’s their place now - a shelter for birds for being protected by wind, rain and tourists.
Sunrise at Easy Red
I walked towards the water and started taking photos. I was the first visitor in this Sub-Sector and went into the water - just a bit with my naked feet - to take photos and to understand how cold the water was. I can tell you - it was really cold. After 20minutes with the water up to my knees I was shaking. I was happy to have my moment alone on that beach which was very intimate. The peace and quiet and the imagining what has happened was just so overwhelming that tears started running down my face while I was walking around inbetween the Sectors Easy Red and Fox Green. After many stressful days, less sleep and gathering all my money, energy and luck to reach this moment, these tears were well deserved. My Story, the historical input, the human tragedy and the famous scenery - it’s still hard to describe. I think overwhelming ist just the right word. Everything was beautiful - the sky, the light, the beach, the sound of the birds and waves and with it also a strange mood. The complete opposite as you would imagine bloody Omaha Beach.
„They‘re murdering us here. Let’s go inland and get murdered“
Colonel Charles D. Canham, 116th Infantry Regiment Commander at Omaha beach
Omaha Beach was divided in eight Sub-Sectors: Charlie, Dog Green, Dog White, Dog Red, Easy Green, Easy Red, Fox Green and Fox Red. Green was the code for West and Red for East. When the first assault wave reached the shores and the ramps of the Landing Crafts dropped, 1450 men jumped into the ice cold water and faced a hard surmountable, well fortified beach. The Atlantikwall - a clever system of defense lines and strategic strongpoints to push back any kind of attack - was in front of them. The combat experienced German Soldiers started shooting immediately. Most of the GIs where exhausted and seasick after spending hours in the small boats on a rough sea that morning. Many got killed or drowned in the channel within minutes. The whole invasion at Omaha Beach started totally chaotic and was far away from the trained situations.
The pre-landing bombardements had failed - the bunkers at the coast where not damaged and the craters in the sand were missing. Most Units had landed in the wrong sectors because Force 4 winds were causing a rough sea. Most of the swimming (duplex drive) Sherman Tanks did also drown immediately. The exhausted and confused GIs were naked and uncovered in front of a well prepared Enemy.
Artist: Robert Capa (American (born Hungary), Budapest 1913–1954 Thai Binh) /
Date: 1944 / Medium: Gelatin silver print / Dimensions: 24.1 x 35.5 cm / Classification: Photographs / Credit Line: Ford Motor Company Collection, Gift of Ford Motor Company and John C. Waddell, 2000 / Accession Number: 1987.1100.501
Rights and Reproduction: © International Center of Photography / Magnum Photo
The circumstances during the first hours make it complicated to give accurate informations, but the collected field notes and reports from eye whitnesses gave a close view of the invasion.
After 15 min there was not a single shot fired from any Allied Soldier and absolutly no one talked. Most of the commanders where already dead or missing and so no one knew what to do.
After 30 min nearly 2/3 of the soldiers from the first wave are wounded or dead. The second wave arrived at the beach. They had even more trouble to reach the beach because it became even harder to navigate. Meanwhile the sea did run red.
10. 30 - after 3 hours - approximately 3000 men were wounded or killed
12.00 - after almost 6 hours - Colonel George A. Tayler pushed his men from the dunes into the assault. „There are two kinds of people who are staying on this beach: those who are dead and those who are going to die. Now let’s get the hell out of here."
13.30 New Troops manage to break through defense lines and shut down German strongpoints. Meanwhile the Germans are slowly running out of ammunition and reinforcements.
At the end of the Day, 155.000 soldiers (75.000 British, 57.000 American, 23000 Paratroopers) been landed by air and sea together with around 20.000 vehicles. More than 10.000 of them were lost, wounded or killed. (3.000 British, 6000 American, 1.300 Paras). On the whole, Overlord was a success.
Sources:
Remy Desquesnes Book „Omaha - Pointe du Hoc - Colleville“, Editions OREP 2014
Remy Desquesnes Book „Normandy 1944 - the invasion and the battle of Normandy“, Editions Ouest-France - Edilarge SA, Rennes, 2009
Claude Quetels Book „Robert Capa - L‘oeil du 6 Juin 1944“, Gallimard 2004
from „the Atlantic“ - „Fist wave at Omaha Beach“ - link
While I was standing at the beach with my camera in my hand and the tears in my eyes - more and more people arrived - French, British, Americans - some where wearing original uniforms from WW2 - some had flowers. Many reenactors showed up. I saw a medic jeep driving along the beach. I took two photos which I really like. Then, I joined all those people walking along the beach towards Vierville.
Omaha Beach...
...D-Day, Overloard & Normandy - Saving Private Ryan, Robert Capa... Wow!
Everything started with the opening battle scene of Steven Spielberg’s Movie „Saving private Ryan“. It was the first time I got an idea about war. I was born and raised in Germany and grew up with people like my family and teachers talking about war. I knew a few things but I never really had a picture in mind of what that really means. I was just a kid.
Steven Spielberg and his crew gave me a picture which had a deep impact into my imagination, thoughts and fears. I am aware that you shouldn’t take movies or series as reality and there was just a tiny story out of a million told stories which just showed glimpses of subjective impressions about war. But I also think that movies like „Saving Private Ryan“ and later the HBO miniseries „Band Of Brothers“ (also "The Pacific") were a turning point and define how we - as a younger generation - remember the second World War. Those productions didn’t have their focus on the spectacel of Hollywood „gunhole extravaganza“ as Spielberg later said - it was about telling the true stories of a slowly disappearing generation who fought...
„...not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and good will among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.“ Franklin D. Roosevelt’s D-Day Prayer, 6.6.44
The opening scene of "Saving Private Ryan" - the landing at Omaha beach - is an outstanding scene with main focus to transport the emotions of fear and disorientation instead of a simple spectacle. It’s brilliant and realistic visual storytelling with an incredible camera which perfectly adapts Capas „Magnificent Eleven“ - the 11 photos from the first assault wave which survived - into a movie scene. The Story, supported by the camera is told very subjective and is focussed on a few individuals. It’s not hard to identify with the soldiers emotions and feel their fears, isolation and disorientation in that chaos of the invasion. You even don’t see the Nazi soldiers in the beginning - there are just the forces of nature and bullets. Holy cow. This is not a movie review - but for me personal its not possible to talk about my journey to Omaha Beach - including my emotional connection - without mentioning this movie.
D-Day: Behind Robert Capa's Photo Of Normandy Beach | TIME
Woman at D-Day
In public perception about D-Day (and war itself) the role of woman is mostly reduced to Girls or Mothers and loses sight of all these brave and highly trained servicewoman and nurses. But in fact - many woman served as Airforce Pilots, Spies, Radio Operators, War-Correspontants etc and played a key-role in the success of the Invasion. Also most people don’t know that Female Courier Spies „operating in occupied France had the second highest Allied fatality rate (42%, behind only Bomber Command‘s 45%) of the war“ (link)
These Female Special Forces made parachute drops into Nazi-Occupied France where they had to „coordinate, train and arm the Resistance“. If you want to know more about this very interesting topic please have a look at the names from the Special Operations Executove SOE like Andrée Borrel, Lise de Baissac and Odette Sansom - who became famous because she was tortured for 2 years by the nazis, survived and kept silence.
There is also the Story of famous War-Correspondant Martha Gellhorn - the only Woman at the Invasion - after sneaking into a Hospital Ship. Her D-Day report “The Wounded Come Home.” Was published by Collier’s:
“Then we stopped noticing the invasion, the ships, the ominous beach, because the first wounded had arrived. An LCT drew alongside our ship, pitching in the waves. A boy in a steel helmet shouted up to the crew at the aft rail, and a wooden box looking like a lidless coffin was lowered on a pulley, and with the greatest difficulty, bracing themselves against the movement of their boat, the men on the LCT laid a stretcher inside the box. The box was raised to our deck, and out of it was lifted a man who was closer to being a child than a man, dead-white and seemingly dying. The first wounded man to be brought to that ship for safety and care was a German prisoner.”
In April 29th, 1945, Martha Gellhorn was also present during the liberation of KZ Dachau by the US-Army. She reported:
„Dachau has been my own lifelong point of no return. Between the moment when I walked through the gate of that prison, with its infamous motto, 'Arbeit Macht Frei,' and when I walked out at the end of a day that had no ordinary scale of hours, I was changed, and how I looked at the human condition, the world we live in, changed ... Years of war had taught me a great deal, but war was nothing like Dachau. Compared to Dachau, war was clean.“
left: Odette Sansom (PA Images) / right: Martha Gellhorn (FPG/Archive Photos/Getty Images)
6.30 am - H-Hour, 2019
I was very late to see the official H-Hour Memorial event at Vierville-Sur-Mer but I recognized a group of reenactors at the beach who had their own little ceremony and I asked to join them and take a few pictures. The light and colours were still very beautiful and I was lucky to get some nice photos of that group. But I didn’t want to interrupt them in their intimate ceremony and kept going. I still don’t know how to describe the vibes and my feelings about that. The golden light from the low rising sun was epic and everything had a pathetic touch. Even the light on the cliffs far away in the background was just mindblowing. From time to time some helicopters where flying above. But besides the roar of the helicopters and the noise of the waves everything was still quite and reverent. What a moment. What a day to be a photographer!
Finally I arrived at the D-Day Memorial in Moulin-de-St.Laurent-sur-Mer where more people came together - mostly reenactor groups with impressive stuff. I spent some time at the two monuments and slowly realized what the day would bring. More and more groups of reenactors with jeeps and trucks arrived. Soldiers, Nurses - even war correspondents. Incredible.
I am not that kind of guy who is interested in cars and stuff and to be honest - everything that needs fuel isn’t interesting to me. I dont know how this works or how to repair and - at least my friends tell me - I am a bad driver. And I really don’t care. But it was cool to see this machines and vehicles for real.
I decided to rest at the Omaha Beach Memorial for a while and played around with my Neutral Density Filter to take some daytime long exposure shots. Then I continued my walk to Vierville.
Vierville-Sur-Mer
It was almost 8am when I arrived. Where once was a massive anti tank wall blocking the DOG-1 beach exit was now a Sherman tank surrounded by many re-enacting groups and vehicles.There was also a squad of actual American soldiers with Patches of the 82nd Airborne and 29th Infantry. I found three of them doing something very weird: They had a bag full of brandnew American flags and hoisted one after another just for a second to salute while the flag was waving at Sector Dog Green. Then they packed them together and offered them for sale. I don’t know how successful they had been with it but they were very kind and allowed me to take pictures of their ceremony. Thanks.
I spent some time at the national-guard monument - the former WN72 and the „Ever-Forward“ Sculpture. From this spot you have a stunning view over the Omaha Sub-Sectors Charlie, Dog Green and Dog White. Not a surprise that you can find 4 fortified strongpoints there. There is also the best exit road D-1 which made Vierville-Sur-Mer strategically very important. Later I walked up the hill to a restaurant where they served cold beer and delicious food. OMG. After an physically and emotionally exhausting morning - sitting on a real chair in the sun with an outstanding view and enjoying some snacks and beer has been a pure pleasure. I realized that beautiful morning, which was somehow my very personal and private moment was about to be over and I felt that things would change to a totally different experience full of tourism and spectacle.
Around 9am the Sherman tank started its engine which must have woken up the whole village due to the noise and smoke. It was time - the parade would start soon. So I packed my stuff and prepared myself for the next tour - back to Colleville. I was very much excited about what would happen next.
The footpaths got filled with amazed people when the Sherman started to rattle down the street, followed by dozens of other vehicles. Motorcycles, Jeeps, Half-Tracks and so on. As I told you - I am not such a vehicle and machine nerd like most of the people there with their smartphones and cameras. Honestly - I got most of my acquired knowledge from movies and computer games from my youth. But I still did enjoy the show and felt like a lucky child when someone responded to my arm waving behind the camera. Actually I was more interested in all those people watching the parade and how they were trying to get everything on camera. Same as me - but still different. Deep inside my heart I understand this insatiable need to get these spectacles on camera. But during my development as a photographer I have learned that it’s more interesting to calm down, turn around and step back. Many better positioned and better equipped people will film everything - tv channels, people on the trucks etc. but the really interesting and funny things happen next to the parade when you focus on the people. It’s absolutely absurd but somehow still honestly human. I see my family and me as a child standing there and that gives me a very unifying feeling.
I followed the parade back to St. Laurent. Meanwhile the vehicles had turned around and came back which was my chance of taking some less chaotic photos with a nice Omaha Beach background. That was really cool and I still was happy about everyone who waved their arms back. Some did even honk - wohoo!
left: Omaha Beach secured after D-Day, 1944 (© Reuters)
Widerstandsnest 65
I passed St.Laurent-Sur-Mer to find out how close I could get back to the Cemetery. I ended up at Beach Exit Road E1 / Easy Red where the first Allied Headquarter was built at WN65 during the Invasion. The Pillbox „Ruquet“ was occupied by a bunch of re-enactors who had built a headquarter around the bunker. These Yanks had lots of fun. Behind that road the cemetery is located on a bluff with a stunning view at Omaha Beach, but everything was closed due to the official event. According to the rising number of helicopter convoys it wouldn’t be long until the ceremony would start - which made the military police slightly tense. Just a few hundred meters away behind the trees was the memorial ceremony with thousands of guests including Emmanuel Macron, Donald Trump, Angela Merkel and the Queen Elizabeth II.
Meanwhile many people came together on the hill at WN 65 to see the upcoming flyovers of several squadrons. You could already see some of them flying circles in the distance until they finally got their signal to fly over the Cemetery. What a show. What a sound - wow. Unfortunately I left my perfect first row spot a few minutes before - after waiting more than one hour - to get some food. It was 1pm when the canons at the Cemetery started shooting and the different squadrons made their impressive flyover from two directions.
© Conseil Régional de Basse-Normandie / National Archives USA
left: © US Army Signal Corps / right: © States Marine Corps Robert Bare Collection
I walked to Vierville-Sur-Mer once again during my hunt for food and and a possible lift towards west. The mood at the beach had completely changed into a mix of tourist spectacle and usual beach-day atmosphere and so I was interested in leaving. I just watched the D-Day / Omaha Beach Parade from the Florida State Univesity before I decided to walk home. 15km to walk - 28 degrees - walking around with my gear for 12 hours already. Okay cool.
I took me almost 3 hours to reach Grandcamp-Maisy and of course - it started to rain. They way I felt during my hike - there was no chance that this wouldn’t happen. But I also made some nice stops. Luckily there are some beautiful Chateaux on the road where you could rest and get some wine. When I arrived in Grandcamp I was wet, sweaty, tired, hungry and everything was hurting. Love it. This is exactly how you feel when you are doing a good job as a photographer.
First American Cemetery
June 7th, 2019
„I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish“
The famous First American Cemetery and Memorial at Omaha Beach was - as the name reveals - officially the first American cemetery in Europe during World War II. But actually the temporary battlefield cemetery was built a few hundred meters away at the beach in St. Laurent during the landing, but the huge amount of dead men forced the 607th Quartermaster Registration Company of the U.S. First Army to move and built a bigger one in Colleville-Sur-Mer two days later on June, 8th 1944. There you can visit 9388 graves and another 1557 names on the „wall of the missing“. It is a very elegant and quiet place to honor American troops who died in Europe during WWII. Thousands of white Crosses and Stars of David are standing there lined up in order like these soldiers did before.
But the elegance and silence was hardly interrupted during my visit on June 7th, 2019. It was the second time at the cemetery, after I had visited that place in 2012 during a holiday trip. Back then, everything was peaceful and empty. On this day of June 2019, there were dozens of technical workers dismantling stages, video walls, chairs and red carpets from everywhere - the leftovers of the official Event. It was a horrible noise. I did similar jobs on music festivals for some years and know and understand the need . But it was just a very sad scene, I thought. Additionally it began to rain and the cemetery was crowded very much with people. I felt very disappointed at the beginning. But that was also okay - I mean thats life - as honest as I could be. Kids were playing and running around while military airplanes were flying over. No peace and quiet on that day and my emotionally and physically hang-over from the day before amplified this feeling. But in this context of freedom, fighting, war and death, it is still a very nice thing to see some playing kids.
„At the center of the cemetery lies a multi-confessional chapel. Its altar, in black and gold Pyrenean marble, reads “I GIVE UNTO THEM ETERNAL LIFE AND THEY SHALL NEVER PERISH”. The stained glass behind it bears a Latin cross and present a star of David, as well as an alpha and an omega symbol, meant to represent all other religions.“
Source: Wikipedia
I whitnessed a ceremony by a group of Americans in the rain, but I didn’t really understand what this was about. Obviously about honoring the fallen soldiers and they were reading letters of some soldiers, but I didn’t get the whole thing. But to walk around that fields of graves was still very impressive and you get overwhelmed by the visualized number of graves. You read it everywhere - but to see the dimensions makes it far more insane. 9388 graves, most of whom were killed during the landing or ensuring operations. Thats the whole story for many people of the landing on the Beaches of Normandy - from the shaken, disorientated landing boats across the long and deadly beaches, up that fortified shores where now is a huge and beautiful cemetery. Now „The cemetery contains the graves of 45 pairs of brothers (30 of which buried side by side), a father and his son, an uncle and his nephew, 2 pairs of cousins, 3 generals, 4 chaplains, 4 civilians, 4 women, 147 African Americans and 20 Native Americans.
307 unknown soldiers are buried among the other servicemembers
[...]
Notable burials at the cemetery include:
Jimmie W. Monteith,
Medal of Honor recipient
Frank D. Peregory,
Medal of Honor recipient
Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.,
son of President Theodore Roosevelt, Medal of Honor recipient
Quentin Roosevelt,
son of President Theodore Roosevelt, aviator killed in action in World War I and reburied next to the grave of his brother, Theodore Roosevelt Jr.
Lesley J. McNair,
U.S. Army general, one of the two highest-ranking Americans to be killed in action in World War II
Two of the Niland brothers, Preston and Robert,
whose story inspired Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan“
Source: www.wikipedia.org
I want to end my documentary with a sentence which is written inside the little chapel in the center of the cemetery. Thank you for reading!
„Think not only upon their passing - Remember the glory of their spirit“
