Normandy Excursion

Greetings All,

Today our Olympic Quest brought us to Normandy, France. We left promptly at 7:30am for a 4 hour bus ride. The weather was gorgeous and the scenery was AMAZING! First off, Normandy was the site of the famous D-Day, which ended WWII. Our group first began at Utah Beach where we walked on the grounds that the U.S. troops fought at on June 6th 1934. Then we went to Point Du Hac, which was considered a very good defensive point that the U.S. troops wanted to take control of. At that site we learned that 225 American men climbed up steep cliffs in order to fight the Germans and during their climb 16% of the men went uninjured. The group enjoyed exploring the grounds because there were many bunkers and bomb craters that brought us back to that very day. Omaha Beach was our next destination, which was one of the worst battles of the War. We saw the memorials that recognized the men who died. Lastly, we went to the U.S. Cemetary where those who died were buried. Over 10,000 crosses represented those who died. Our tour guide shared many personal stories of those involved, which made it a very powerful and meaningful experience. Many of us agreed that we could have spent hours there listening to him talk. Then during our ride back we watched Saving Private Ryan, which was based on the story of 4 brothers. Two of the brothers were buried in the Cemetary we saw. Overall it was a wonderful experience and everyone enjoyed it!

Talk to you soon! - Whitney and Katie