Lest We Forget
Reader Advisory: Despite my usual wise crackery, you’ll find none of that in the post, just thoughts and reflections.
You can’t come to Normandy, or at least we couldn’t come to Normandy, without paying our respects to those who lost their lives here during World War II. Mr T and I both feel a strong bond and deep respect for the military. My father was a Royal Navy man and many of the relatives on my Mum’s side went to war. For Mr T, he sadly lost his Uncle in the Vietnam War and he carries his name with pride. So for both of us, visiting places that commemorate those who lost their lives while we’re here is incredibly important.
Those of you who know me well will know that I’m not one for much emotion (I hear you all saying “that’s an understatement!”) Let’s just call me a laugher not a crier. I’ve also read, seen, researched and listened to a great deal about World War II because I believe we should never forget what happened. But none of that prepared me for how I’d feel visiting the cemeteries and reading name after name of people who gave their lives for the war. For us.
The enormity of the loss is overwhelming. Your instinct is to go to every site, and visit every grave, and in some way try and understand. But that just isn’t possible. Instead, we decided that Mr T and I should both pick one place each to pay our respects.
We started at Ranville, the very first village to be liberated on D-Day by the British 13th Parachute Battalion. There, at the Ranville War Cemetery, 2,560 people are buried, predominately British but also Canadian, Australian, French, German and many more. I chose this particular place of memorial because Paratrooper E.S. Corteil is buried here with his Para Dog Glen, in grave 1A.G.13. They jumped together on D- Day but they were among the 550 Paras who landed miles off their intended target and were trying desperately to regroup. Unaware that their own soldiers were trying to get back, the Allies continued to bombard the area and both Private E.S Corteil and Glen were killed in the fire. Both are buried here together in one grave, one final act of compassion and love.
The inscription on Private Corteil’s headstone reads: “Had you known our boy, you would have loved him too.” Words can’t describe how I felt in the cemetery reading those words and how I feel now typing them. Mr T and I walked around the cemetery, each in our own thoughts and by the time we got back to the car, both of us were in tears. Mine wouldn’t stop. I didn’t speak again for a while. Like I said, there are no words.
We then made our way to Omaha Beach. By then, the weather had turned and it was bitterly cold and threatening rain. Looking out onto the beach, it’s impossible to know what was going through these lads minds when they were steered towards what was likely to be their death. And then you see the crosses. The scale of the cemetery takes your breath away. A total of 9,387 people are buried here. Over 300 of those are un-named graves. They died here fighting and no one knows their name.
I couldn’t help but imagine every single cross was a young man, standing there, chatting to the guy beside him, slouching over a cigarette, having a laugh. When you think of it like that, it gets a hold of you pretty quickly and it doesn't let go. I’m not really one for feeling the energy or whatever, but there’s something about both Omaha and Ranville. You can’t help but feel it. Again, we walked around in our own thoughts. We didn’t speak for a while after our visit here either. To be honest, it felt like a while before I even took a proper breath.
I don’t have any way to sum up our time on the Normandy beaches. Everything I say will sound trite and hollow. Should you come here? Yes, no matter if you’re English, American, French, German…wherever you’re from, you should come. It was one of the most impactful places I’ve been in my life. You should pick your own place to remember what happened here, there are many memorials, cemeteries, museums and places of remembrance. Pick any one of them. And remember. No matter what you think, or what you say, or how you feel. Just remember. For every single one of them, remember.
