Off to the British landing area of Gold Beach – where the Green Howards (my fathers regiment – though he was a POW at the time) landed amongst others. Started at Asnelles.
Another Bunker! – Asnelles, Gold Beach
Our Group at Asnelles
Remaining Bits of Mulberry Harbour – Asnelles
House that Survived – Gold Beach, Asnelles
Map of Gold Beach
And another bunker – E Asnelles – see pics following for description
Descriptive Plaque
Memorial to Essex Yeomanry
CSM Hollis of the Green Howards gained the only VC of D-Day – the picture below is of one of the locations where CSM Hollis was in action:
Part of Mont Fleury Bunker Complex
Memorial to CSM Hollis, Mont Fleury
Memorial Plaque for Green Howards & CSM Stanley Hollis
Next we went to Arromanches, back on the coast – here’s Barrie on the coach:
Barrie on Coach
Arromanches
Phil with baguette sandwich – Arromanches seafront
Barrie also with baguette sandwich, Arromanches seafront
Arromanches beach
German ‘Eighty-eight’ (see bunker earlier)
Barrie & British ’25 pounder’ gun – trying to see if it would fit in his suitcase
Arromanches – main drag
After our lunch in Arromanches – and some time in the museum – we went to ‘Pegasus Bridge’ – site of the very first landings on French soil by Allied soldiers just after midnight – members of 6th Airborne Division landing by glider to capture the bridge.
Pegasus Memorial
Marker & memorial for site of first glider landing site – close to the bridge
Horsa Glider as used in landings
The original Pegasus Bridge – now in the nearby museum
After this we walked along the canal to view a set of graves in a nearby church graveyard before taking the coach back to the hotel. Then off we went to the ‘Oriental Buffet’