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Jessie The Jeep

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Everything posted by Jessie The Jeep

  1. August 2nd - Falaise Memorial We left the cottage around 9:30am on Wednesday the 2nd of August, heading for Falaise on the way to the ferry at Dieppe. We were visiting Château de Falaise, the home castle of William the Conqueror, connecting with our Bayeux tappestry visit of earlier in the holiday. Just next to the Château was another museum with a Sherman tank outside. I took a few pictures before we finally left the area, heading for the ferry port. We made it back to England late that evening and stayed overnight in Portsmouth.
  2. Bayeux Museum It started to rain heavily again by the time we got back to Bayeux. We needed to pop in to the supermarket before stopping by the Bayeux museum for a quick look at the armour on display outside. We then headed back to the cottage to eat and start packing everything, as we were leaving Normandy the following morning.
  3. Underwater Museum Another 5 miles got us to the Port en Bessin Underwater museum. Closed by the time we got there, but we have been before.
  4. Overlord Museum Another couple of miles East along the coast, brought us to the Overlord Museum. Once more, we just had a quick look around outside before moving on.
  5. Omaha Beach Museum & Omaha Memorial Museum It was late afternoon by the time we got to the first Omaha museum. We didn't have time to go in, but had visited before. We just did drive bys, grabbing some pictures of the outdoor exhibits before moving on.
  6. Omaha Beach Four miles down the coast, our next stop was Omaha beach. Last time here, we didn't have much time and parked the Jeep on the sea front road for a photo with the beach in the background. This time, with the tide out, we went for a walk down to the sea. The sand is a strange mixture of quite firm sand and very soft sand that your feet sink into by several inches. When you get down to the water's edge, you realise just how deep the beach is and how far it was to get across once the landing craft hit the beach.
  7. Pointe du Hoc We didn't get to Pointe du Hoc until 3:50pm. We came here back in 2005, but more recently, certain pathways through the maze of craters have been closed off to the public. This has resulted in nature taking hold more, with the undergrowth effectively hiding many of the craters, or at the very least, camouflaging the extent and depth of the craters. It took me some time to get the picture below, looking out of the bunker. It is a combination of several pictures, each taken with members of the public in different locations. The pictures were then edited together, deleting the figures.
  8. There are several larger vehicles on display outside. I was particularly interested in these as they would have been used in the construction of the 8th Air Force airfields.
  9. August 1st - Normandy Victory Museum It was another wet day. This was the last day for touring the Normandy area, so we wanted to try and get to several places, even if just for a short time. The Normandy Victory Museum is fairly new, opening in 2017. Since this museum wasn't around during our last trip, we wanted to see it this time. There are many dioramas set up around the museum telling a wide range of stories with great attention to detail in the artifacts they have on display.
  10. It was by this memorial that we caught up with the small convoy that drove by at the Utah museum. They were setting up camp in the field next to the memorial for a military show that weekend. We headed back to the cottage after this. On July the 29th, 30th and 31st, we visited non-WW2 places including Bayeux town, Mont-Saint-Michel, Caumont L'Eventé Slate Mine and Saint-Martin de Mondaye Monastery. We didn't get back to WW2 until the 1st of August.
  11. Leclerc Memorial Another mile up the coast brought us to the Leclerc Memorial. We came here in 2005 and as expected for an outdoor memorial, it doesn't appear to have changed at all. However, the paintwork on all the vehicles looks in fairly good condition, so they must have been repainted since our last trip.
  12. WN8 Battery Blockhaus De La Breche A little over a mile up the road was the WN8 Blockhaus. I had a 15 minute explore around several bunkers and emplacements before we moved on again.
  13. I don't remember much about the inside of this museum from 18 years ago, other than this beach display area was un-changed. Around 1,000 feet to the North West of the museum is another concrete bunker. As we were walking from the museum towards the bunker, a small convoy of a Jeep, two GMCs and a Dodge drove by heading north. We'd see them again later. We had a quick look around the bunker, then moved on up the coast.
  14. Utah Beach Museum The weather on the 28th was the opposite of the previous day, with it being bright, warm and sunny. We returned to the Utah beach, this time to visit the museum. The main building was fairly unchanged from memory, but since our last visit, a large hangar was built which now contains a B-26 Marauder. This aircraft was formerly located at the "Musée de l'air et de l'espace" at Le Bourget Airport, in Paris. I saw it there in 2008 in its silver and olive drab Free French scheme ( see inset picture ). It is on loan to the Utah museum, but I don't know how long for.
  15. There was a fibreglass half uniform on the upper level, so we all stood behind it for a photo. It was a bit low for me and I had to squeeze my shoulders in narrow enough to be out of shot! We didn't take any of our own green clothes on holiday. There didn't seem much point without the Jeep to play with. The Waco glider is currently in a parachute shaped building, which isa bit worse for wear now. I think I read that it was going to be moved, but I don't know if the building is going to be refurbished or replaced.
  16. July 28th - Sainte-Mere-Eglise Sainte-Mere-Eglise was first on the list for Friday the 28th. Once more, we'd previously visited this museum, but it's had another large building added since we were last there. The two existing buildings were more or less the same with the C-47 and Waco glider, but smaller displays had changed and interactive displays added.
  17. Went on holiday late in July and came back to this! In today's other news, happy 79th birthday today, to "Faith", my WC51.
  18. Utah Beach We spent most of the day at the D-Day experience, so when we left, we made a trip to the coast to Utah Beach for a coffee and snack. We'd been to the Utah Museum back in 2005, but it was too late in the day to visit at that time. We had a look around the outdoor exhibits, still in the pouring rain and planned to return another day. The landing craft had recently been repainted. Ellon Cottage Fairly close to the cottage where we were staying, was this ruined cottage. I don't know whether it was damaged during the war, or just collapsed due to neglect. However, the first time I saw it, it immediately struck me how similar it was to the demolished building in the Airfix D-Day diorama kit I'd built with my daughter a few years ago. Here's the full diorama.
  19. July 27th - D-Day Experience, Dead Man's Corner The D-Day Experience museum didn't exist on our last visit in 2005 and having heard positive reviews of the place, we decided to give it a go. The weather on the 27th was forecast for solid heavy rain all day, so we figured that being indoors here for the day was a good option! We weren't disappointed with the display and really enjoyed the C-47 flight simulator. The original windows have been covered over and flat screens mounted a little higher up, clear of the passenger's heads. You hear the engines start, taxi out and take off. Hydraulics lift the C-47 to simulate the take off and flight. Upstairs, there's a large diorama area. The Dead Man's Corner building is focused on German items and dioramas.
  20. Centaur Memorial at La Breche D'hermanville After an ice cream, we drove a little further West along Sword Beach to visit the Centaur Tank, another small memorial we visited back in 2005. Back then, the paintwork looked quite fresh, but looking at the markings, it doesn't appear that it has been repainted in the last 18 years. Around 400 feet away, on the edge of the beach, was another memorial, this one to the Royal and Merchant Navy. Churchill Memorial at Lion-sur-Mer About another mile further West was the Churchill Tank and sun dial memorial. Three metal plaques on the side of the tank show dates of restoration. Back in 2005 when we visited, the Churchill appeared in a realistic dark khaki green. This time, it was in a rather unconvincing pale green. It hasn't faded to that colour, as I've found pictures on the internet of it freshly painted. A Youtube video shows the body restoration has been done with wood and plastic, pop-riveted together. It really deserves a proper rebuild. We headed back to the cottage after this, finishing our second day.
  21. Sword Beach From Merville, we headed a little West and took a sea front walk along Sword Beach, taking in the memorials along the way.
  22. Battery at Merville-Franceville This was another museum we'd been to before, but this one had changed quite a bit. Back in 2005, there were the concrete gun emplacements with the museum displays inside and a circular car park. Now there's a larger car park, a shop and visitors centre, a hangar and Douglas C-47 Skytrain. This C-47 was a first for me, as it had the fairings and mountings for the under-belly cargo canisters, something I've never seen before. This museum was another with an audio tour to guide visitors around the site, telling the story. The 9th Parachutists Battalion landed under cover of darkness to capture the battery in the early hours of June 6th. Many para's drowned in the nearby marshes but the battery is under Allied control by 5:00am.
  23. July 26th - Pegasus Bridge & Museum This was another museum that we visited on our 2005 trip. In general, the museum hasn't changed a great deal over the last 18 years, although smaller displays have changed or been added to. It was still nice to revisit this part of the story, as on this trip, we had more time to spend at each location. When viewed from the other side of the hedge, the Horsa glider probably looks very similar to glider 1 after landing in the early hours of D-Day. The first men on the ground on June 6th were the 5th Parachutist Brigade in charge of capturing the bridges over the Orne river and canal. Landing their gliders within yards of the bridges, they captured them and held them until Lord Lovat's Cammandos Brigade arrived to reinforce the positions. After the canal was widened, a new bridge was built and the original bridge became part of the museum located close by.
  24. Advanced Landing Ground B12, Ellon After Longues sur Mer, we went back to our cottage to eat. Before heading to France, I had noticed that about a mile down the road from our cottage, was the location of A.L.G B12 Ellon, so planned to visit it. We did it that evening. Sadly, it is quite over-grown with algae growning on many of the information panels. The airfield map did provide an orientation, so I was able to take photos each way, approximately along the line of the old runway. Looking North East Looking South West
  25. Battery at Longues-sur-Mer Next on the list and a little West along the coast, was the Gun Battery at Longues-sur-Mer. We visited this battery back in 2005. The battery of four 150mm guns overlooks the coast from a 200 feet high cliff. The guns were silenced on D-Day by the Allied Fleet and the Garrison surrendered to the British the following day. As can be seen, the guns survive to this day. The memorial stone, located closer to the car park, is for Advanced Landing Ground B11, Longues sur Mer, and reads... "300 meters to the East, was the operational B11 aerodrome of Longues sur Mer, from June 21th 1944 to September 4th 1944. During this period, J. Aubertin P. Clostermann and J. Remlinger, heroes of the F.A.F.L, were in this place within 602 "City of Glasgow" Squadron. Units also present 132 "City of Bombay" Squadron and 453 Squadron R.A.A.F. 441 Squadron R.C.A.F."
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