June 6, 2010 - It's hard for me to awake on June 6 of any year and not immediately think about D-Day. For anyone who hasn't yet visited the invasion beaches, it is something that I really recommend doing. There is actually very little left. Without the historical signs and the occasional tank or monument here or there, one could almost drive the whole place and not have an idea of the historical significance. Of course there are exceptions: Pointe du Hoc looks like a battlefield. The bunkers and other concrete structures look like they have been hit in battle, and the land is completely pocked even 66 years later.
But for anyone who knows what happened on June 6 and the days that followed, it is really amazing to be able to visit the same places, know that you are on the same roads, see the same bocage, and so on that the Allied and German forces battled over in 1944.
If you do go, make sure you take the D-Day Atlas. There are a lot of things that are obvious on there which aren't just by following the road signs and historical markers. And if you are flying to France, then contact your local airline to see which side of the plane will possibly fly over the beaches. I have gotten an excellent aerial view of Normandy on a couple of flights.
Here is to the brave Allied soldiers who landed on June 6th and in the waves that followed.
Narayan
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