NORMANDY 2007

  Eleven of us left England on the 11th May for five days to visit the drop zones of the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions in Normandy, France.  The weather was typically the same as in England but nothing on Earth would have stopped us from going.  Crossing over on the Channel Tunnel the journey took us a whole lot longer than we had anticipated as the hire vehicle we had been given was not reliable.  Overcoming this we arrived at our destination in Brix, which is approximately 25 miles West of Cherbourg at about 10pm (English time). 

 Back row: John, Chris. 3rd Row: Jonathan, Bez, Mark. 2nd Row: Dan B, Sam and Dan R. Front Row: Vic, Ian and Ken.

The 16th Century Chateau we had hired for the next five days exceeded all of our expectations and later we found out that it had been used as a German hospital for the wounded on D-Day, this made the stay even more memorable.

 On the 12th May our first full day in France we visited the drop zones of the 101st and in particular the 501st PIR.  The itinerary was intense and took us 12 hours to complete, leaving only a couple of hours to grab a bite to eat and a few beers.  We stopped of at a steak house and rounded the day off with a little R & R.

Marmion Farm - where Forrest Guth and many others of the 506th had their pics taken!

Sam & Jonathan at Marmion Farm - standing where Easy company stood!

Recognise this pic taken at Turqueville?

Dead Mans Corner - De Trez's Museum.

La Fierre Bridge

Iron Mike

First thing on day three we visited the last of the 101st Drop zones that we had missed on day 1, including a visit to La Barquette Locks, Dead Mans Corner - the museum is fantastic and the site is owned by Michelle de Trez, the author of many excellent US airborne books. This also was a great opportunity for us to grab a few bargains in the military shop attached to the museum. Having finished the 101st areas finally with Purple Heart Lane, we moved onto Sainte Mere Eglise, Timmes Orchard, and a whole host of objectives that faced the 82nd Division.

The full itinerary can be downloaded here.