Thread: Visiting Normandy

My family visited the Normandy beaches and surrounding area back in 2004, it was sort of a pilgrimage tracing my Mothers two Brothers footsteps during their time in Normandy.

We arrived at Cherbourg where we pick up an hired car that had been pre-booked and drove to the Gite we were staying at in Grandcamp Maisy. It was late when we arrived so we did very little. The next morning we set out to visit the Merville Battery where my mothers elder brother was badly wounded, he was part of Lieutenant-Colonel Terence Otway's men of the 9th Parachute Battalion. He was shot from one of the last bullets fired from the battle inside the battery just before the Germans had raised their white flag.

While in the battery grounds our first port of call was to visit the #1 bunker which is now a museum. We then entered the grounds of the battery where we all (Mother, Wife, two Daughters and my Son) seemed to go our own way. My Son and i was on top of the #2 bunker looking out over the views and having our opinions on how the Soldiers entered the battery when a guy came over to us and started chatting about the night of the battle.

Well we were both stood there listening to every word this man spoke; he looked very fit and was going through movements as he was explaining in great detail events as they happened that night. It wasn't long before the rest of the family were all stood listening to this guy’s story; he had us all captivated to say the least. At some point i started to tell the man why we were here visiting the battery, and when i got to the point about my Uncle being shot at the end of the battle he gave me such a glare, and it seemed instantly that he blurted out my Uncles name. It soon became clear that this man whom we had never met was a veteran of the battle who fought along side my Uncle. We spent well over an hour with him before he had to leave, he was with his Daughter who was by his side all the time he was with us, a Daughter who we could see was very proud of her Father.

We have often spoken about this since 2004, and the main subject is on how we all departed that day and no one of us had got this Gentleman’s name. We truly believe about being in awe of something as we all believe that is why we left that battery that day with no contact details of someone who could answer many questions we had after the event.

I will post about my Mothers youngest brother at a later date.

Thats unbelievable Tony, still can't believe that you didn't get the man's details lol.

Thats an unbelievable coincidence Tony, thou i can understand why you missed the chance to get the guys name and address with all the excitement and probably been in awe.