David's Diary: Saturday, Sept. 8, 2001

Caen and Normandy, France

We drove from Amsterdam, Netherlands to Caen, France yesterday -- a total of 720 kilometers. We literally picked Caen off the map as being reasonably close to Brittany where we must travel today. Having picked Caen just because it was a convenient location on the map we now discover that it is the center for information about the D-day invasion. Code named Operation Overlord, the Normandy beaches near Caen are where the Allied troops landed on June 6, 1944. The invasion marked the turning point of the Second World War and had a total invasion force of 45,000, including many Canadians.

Despite our long day yesterday, we get up early and headed to the beaches. While we should be driving to Brittany this is too good an opportunity to miss. The beaches are dreary and dull, much as they were suppose to have been on invasion day. We travel along the coast, stopping to look at gun emplacements where we try to imagine how difficult it would have been for the landing troops to survive.

Canadian Cemetery

After the beaches we drove inland until we were near the tiny village of Bény-sur-Mer. Throughout Normandy there are many war graveyards -- soldiers were buried near where they fell. These graveyards are maintained to this day and we visited the Canadian military cemetery near Bény-sur-Mer.

The cemetery is neatly maintained by students that come over each summer. There were fresh flowers growing between each of the gravestones. The Canadian soldiers who died here were young, but not as young as I had expected. Many were in their late twenties and a lot of individuals were thirty when they gave their life for Canada. It was a beautiful little spot located right in the middle of cornfields. Surrounded by trees you felt like you were in your own little world.

After exploring the cemetery we met some other people who had traveled there by bike. While talking to them we discovered that they were from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, the town where I grew up. One of them had even met my sister-in-law Marjorie Bakewell. Once again we discover how small the world is.