I wandered silently among the rows of white gravestones at the American Cemetry and Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy as the sun at last broke through the clouds. This is an immaculately kept memorial to the American soldiers who fell in France between 1941 and 1945 - a total of 9 387 burial places including 307 unknown burials. 
The cemetry is located on a bluff overlooking Omaha Beach on land granted to the US by the France.
In Beevor's book, I read how the seabirds of the Mer Estuary flew round and round in panic-stricken circles as the guns roared over the marshes on June 6, disturbing their peace. This little bird sang sweetly in the branches over the gravestones and allowed me a quick snapshot.
The graves of Jewish soldiers are marked by the Star of David. Several bore a memorial pebble.
A cross marks the other graves. On the front is inscribed the name of the young man and the state from which he hailed. You can just discern his Army number at the base of the cross at the back. I searched for and found two graves of young men from North Dakota, my 'adopted' state.
The names of 1 557 war dead who could not be located or identified are inscribed on the wall of a semicircular garden at the east side of the memorial. In the centre of the memorial you can see the bronze statue entitled Spirit of American Youth.
An unexpected obstacle to the Allied tanks in the ensuing battle of Normandy were the bocage, the thick, high hedgerows which are the boundaries of the Normandy meadows. The German troops were accustomed to the landscape but the Allies never reckoned on these leafy barriers to the movement of men and vehicles.
The Peace Memorial at Caen documents, in realistic displays, the D-Day landings, Battle of Normandy and the War in Europe. Caen was virtually levelled by Allied bombing aimed at flushing out German defenders. The Canadians lost over two thousand men in the battle for Caen. The town was only taken on 11 July 1941 more than a month after the D-Day landings.
The entrance to the Memorial depicts a beachhead, established at such a price on the landing beaches. As I left the building along with a young American couple, I remarked, "We just have no idea of how fortunate we are to have never experienced anything like this!" They nodded their fervent agreement.
This record of my holiday forms part of My World. Join others for a glimpseof their world at My World every Tuesday.
