Christmas vacation - Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial

When we arrived at the American Cemetery, it was cold and raining. I was a little irritated with the weather. I felt that the cold rain and wind made it difficult to relax and soak in the meaning of this sacred place. As I was trying to take pictures without the rain hitting my camera lens, I reflected on the possible last moments of the Soldiers buried here. They too were unable to relax. They did not deal with rain blowing into their faces; they dealt with bullets coming at them and their friends. Their rest came with death.

Suddenly the weather did not seem so terrible any longer. I am thankful for the sacrifice of these brave Soldiers.

The Normandy American Cemetery overlooks Omaha beach and contains the graves of 9,387 American Soldiers. 1,557 names are inscribed on the Walls of the Missing.

Christmas vacation - Pointe du Hoc, France

I am amazed that we can still see all the craters from the bombs that were dropped by the Allies over 70 years ago. Pointe du Hoc was cold and windy, but the kids didn't seem to mind. They climbed all over the area and into the remaining bunkers.

For this trip, I downloaded an iPhone app called Spot On Locations. It was wonderful. It gave the history of each site and the GPS coordinates of each location. On the way to each WWII site, I would read the information from the app to the kids and Erick. I highly recommend it if you're going to Normandy.

Here is an excerpt from the app:
Pointe du Hoc was a strategic objective in the sector of Omaha Beach. The Germans had built a major coastal battery that could threaten the landing beaches. These 155mm artillery guns had a range of 15 miles and could take out ships and hit both the beaches of Utah and Omaha. It was a major objective and key defensive strongpoint which had to be taken out.

Two hundred twenty-five Rangers headed out for the cliffs in twelve ships. Three of those ships sank before reaching Pointe du Hoc. The remaining Rangers scaled the cliffs with three usable ropes and some rope ladders under machine-gun fire.

After all the fighting, 80 Rangers had been killed, and only 90 were still able to fight.

Christmas vacation - Sainte-Mère-Église, France

The small Normandy town of Sainte-Mère-Église was one of the first liberated by US Troops in World War II. US paratroopers landed in and around this town before the D-Day landings in order to gain control of a major roadway that goes through the town.

The paratroopers jumped at night. Sadly, several buildings were on fire at the time of the jump, and the light from the fires made the paratroopers easy targets for enemy shooters on the ground. Many US paratroopers were killed that night. Some shot. Some landed in swampy areas and drowned because of the weight of their equipment. Some hit trees and posts. Others were sucked into the fires.

One paratrooper's parachute got caught on a church spire. He had been shot in the foot, but lived. He hung there for two hours pretending to be dead. German soldiers took him prisoner. He later escaped and returned to his unit. Today the city keeps a mannequin hanging from the church spire as a reminder of the sacrifice of the US paratroopers that day over 70 years ago.

We enjoyed the museum in town.

Outside of town there is a statue of Iron Mike. The statue is looking out on a beautiful countryside. I imagined paratroopers landing in the fields with the horses among the trees. I'm so grateful for their bravery and their sacrifice.

Hostouň, Czech Republic

Hostouň (not to be confused with Houston) is a tiny village in the Czech Republic. It was first mentioned in history around the 1230's. But today I went to visit this town for what happened there more than 700 years later. In 1945 members of Erick's current regiment rescued highly valued Austrian horses while also rescuing American and Allied soldiers from a nearby POW camp. The rescue was called Operation Cowboy. May 2015 marks the 70th anniversary of this historical event.

Here is a snippet from the 2cr.army.mil website on the history of the "Second Dragoons:"

"Colonel Reed led the Regiment in the deepest American penetration of the war, all the way into Czechoslovakia. Under Colonel Reed's leadership, the Second Dragoons rescued the world famous Lipizzaner stallions in a daring raid through German lines to an area that was to be the Soviet Zone of Occupation. Colonel Reed defied Soviet threats and herded the Lipizzaners safely back to Germany. In 1960, Walt Disney Productions released a full-length (though historically flawed) motion picture entitled "The Miracle of the White Stallions" that captured the drama of these events.

"As significant as this raid has become to all the horse lovers of the world, the real reason for the raid may have been to capture key intelligence from a senior officer of the German intelligence service. Concurrently, a force from the Second Dragoons moved to a POW camp nearby to rescue American and Allied prisoners. Not only was the rescue of the Lipizzaners a success, but the Regiment also secured the surrender of the 11th Panzer Division. This ended the wartime relationship between the 11th Panzers and the Second Dragoons and began the peacetime relationship that continues to this day."

David and I started our day by playing with Czech children on the strykers and other military vehicles set up in the town square.

After David got good and tired, Erick came and found us and said that COL Meyer had invited us into a small reception prior to the formal part of the events. COL Meyer and LTC Due exchanged gifts with the local mayor and other dignitaries. I felt somewhat under dressed (jeans and a sweater) in this atmosphere, but it was a lovely reception. The picture below shows COL Meyer giving the mayor some spurs.

I was super surprised when someone got my attention and gave me flowers and a pen and pencil set with the names of the two cities celebrating Operation Cowboy (Hostouň and Bělá) engraved on them.  All the ladies in the room received these thoughtful gifts.

The event in the town square started with both countries' national anthems. I felt such patriotism and love as I looked around and saw the soldiers and the Czech children standing together. Moments earlier, the soldiers had been playing soccer in the street with these young kids.

After the anthems some of the kids sat down. David made himself at home sitting right next to the Czech kids. He kept saying hi to them. He was pretty confused when they spoke back because he couldn't understand anything they said.

We listened to important men give speeches, which were all interpreted by one woman. I bet she was exhausted by the end of the day. Translation is not easy work.

I really loved LTC Due's speech. His grandfather had served in 2CR during World War II, and he came to Hostouň with the regiment to rescue the horses. LTC Due gave the Mayor of the town a plaque which included his grandfathers patch and medal from that campaign. It was so special. I may have shed a tear or two.

There was a loud buzzing overhead. It turned out to be this little drone. I'm sure it was recording the events. Modern technology amazes me.

After all the speeches, several men laid wreaths down in memory of the soldiers that fought here. Then we watched the colonel and the other officers of 2CR join some locals to ride beautiful horses through the town toward the next event of the day.

Outside of the town, COL Meyer and the other Army officers rode in historical WWII vehicles to the next event.

This view of the beautiful Czech countryside is near a now ruined old farmhouse. On the ruins of the farmhouse is a plaque in memory of two American soldiers who died here during WWII.

There was a small ceremony in front of the farmhouse ruins. This time LTC Manner spoke for the regiment, and a spokesman for the men who restore WWII vehicles and costumes gave COL Meyer a coin. Following the speeches, LTC Manner and COL Meyer placed a wreath at the memorial site. Several other men representing different Czech agencies and organizations - police, parliament, etc.- also placed flowers at the memorial site.

Before we moved to the final event of the day, a gentleman stopped us. He gave David a coin representing his organization. He and the members of this organization restore US WWII vehicles. His coin says "We will never forget." He was so kind. He thanked Erick for his service and me for coming and bringing David. He said he wanted to give the coin to David because David reminded him of his own son. He showed us pictures of his son, who is six,  riding in a child-sized US Army Jeep that he had built. Super cute!

This exchange was very special for me. I felt so much love, appreciation, and goodwill between us and this man, and really from all the Czech people that I met throughout the day.