Sunday
There are lots of bridges in Normandy - like this elegant beauty of civil engineering - but in this very pleasant region of northern France, few such constructions carry more historical significance and reminders of the costs of war than this one. I visited the Pegasus Bridge museum during a very enjoyable trip to the region last week on holiday. I also went to Arromanches, which has an excellent exhibition about the Normandy landings. You can see the remaining bits of the old Mulberry harbours that were used by the Allies to land their equipmment before the main ports along the French coast were eventually captured.
Most of the folk in France last week were enjoying the usual August holidays without a care in the world. I like to think that is what the men who fought so brilliantly to liberate the Continent would have wanted us to do: have a good time.
Did you get to see the Dakota they are renovating Johnathan? This will be an awesome testament to the memory of the glider invasion at Pegasus Bridge. The old boy who cuts my lawn in Normandy never stops going on about it - he was 10 in 1944 and the Dakota crews used to take him to Southampton and back for fun, he was back before his parents ever found out; a bit different to todays' "culture of risk aversion" - he is from Bayeux and was thus among the first French to be liberated.
Like many Normans of that generation, he hasn't a bad word to say about the liberators.
Posted by TomC at August 17, 2009 09:57 PM
TomC, no I did not see the plane, but I saw the excellent model of the Horsa glider and also several tanks, guns, etc. Very well preserved.
Posted by Johnathan Pearce at August 18, 2009 04:23 PM
