continuation of my walk on the invasion beaches

when i awoke on day three of my walk the weather was very sunny and i felt very proud in what i have done so far i was reflecting back on the walks i had done over the past two days and i knew i had to cover a lot more ground before heading back to the uk to which i was not looking forward to doing,as we left our hotel to the drop of point where i was to continue my walk at ranville outside the cemetary of the british airborne as i whent through the main gate the layout of the cemetary and the condition of the cemetary took my breath away it was something so very beautiful as we walked around the site i wanted to see the grave of the first airborne soldier to be killed in the battle at pegasus bridge lt den brotheridge after about 20 minuets looking i eventualy found it at the far side of the church yard against the wall his final resting place and i felt warm inside why i do not know after that i put a poppy cross on a soldiers grave not far from the main gate to which sorry i have forgotten his name as i was dressed in my normandy grey trousers and black jacket with my honorary badge displaying very proudly on the breast pocket i said a few words at his grave and thanked him for what he had done.after we left the cemetary i made my way to the merville battery not far away passing the dropzones of the paratroopers of the 6th airborne i took a little time out to reflect what it may have been like for those paratroopers i carried on to merville to see how they had constructed the this site it was very big and it had to be taken or the troops landing on sword beach may not have made it onto the dry land the bunkers took me by surprise of the size and thickness of them but now stand silent another stark reminder of those days.after that i made my way to omaha with my two veterans as it was a long way off we whent by car to a point about a mile from omaha where i walked to the end of this most famous beach of the five beaches,as i stood onthe beach of omaha knowing how many young soldiers lost their lives on the beach and in the tanks that never made it ashore i could see why they called it bloody omaha 100ft cliffs had to be climbed to take out guns that was supposed to be there but wasn't very tragic for the 2nd rangers and the 29th division this brought a lump to my throat i must admit i did manage to get some sand from the beach as i did with the other four beaches when i was on top of the beach on point du hoc i could not believe my eyes at the sight i saw it was awesome who in the name of god did some of the germans survive the bombing it was like the craters on the moon gun enplacements,bunkers,living quarters either badly damaged or had direct hits by the allied airforces i still cannot believe what i saw i felt cold at the thought of what if i was there.on my way to the emetary on top of omaha we passed the omaha museum and saw some of the tanks that were destroyed by enemy fire very tragic on one tank no one got out alive,as we approached the cemetary car park i saw the united states flag when we approached the main cemetary i was so taken aback again how beautiful how well kept the cemetary was the main water feature the wall of the missing and the graves all so clean i did manage to find the two brothers who inspired saving private ryan robert and preston niland and also teddy roosevelt and his brother both who are side by side in the cemetary,time now was coming to an end i could not go to utah beach but i have been before and we decided to have a well earned cup of tea and a cheese roll,on my walk i have never seen anything like this before it has opend my eyes to what our soldiers and allies had to endure in those dark days i had collected many things on my way and now i have them in a three tier bookcase at home and i have just paid for two new glass doors to replace the wooden ones and now i have it almost full.i do have one more story about my friend who was at normandy but that will be another time i close now and i would like to say that was the finest cause i have ever done and yes i would like to do it all over again and i would like to say this in their name who were left behind they gave for us let us give to them we will remember

regards

peter

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