Normandy’s American Cemetery along the coast of France is a sacred space.
The meticulously manicured grounds are mostly quiet with row after row of white headstones marking the final resting place for nearly 10,000 heroes buried there. Birds punctuate the silence with song as visitors take in the enormous cost of the largest military invasion in history.
Operation Overload at Normandy began on June 6, 1944. It was the beginning of the end of World War II. Germans occupied France and were dug in along the coastline. American and Allied forces, including Toledoans, were among the 160,000 troops who landed by
boat or parachuted from planes to go ashore at Omaha Beach and then fought their way up the cliffs.
82nd Anniversary of Invasion
of Normandy’s American
Cemetery.
As the 82nd anniversary of that fateful day approaches, the man in charge sat with M-Living near the Wall of the Missing and related that visiting the cemetery is a somber experience.
“It’s surrounded by a forested area that has grown up since we created the cemetery in the mid-fifties,” Superintendent Bob Adams explained. “We get about 1,400,000 visitors a year. On a busy summer week here, we get between 12 and 20 kin visits.” When relatives come to the cemetery near the coastline, guides conduct a ceremony. Sand from the beach is rubbed into the markers to help make the engraved name stand out.
Visitors hear the American National Anthem along with the notes of the soft sounds of taps.
Maintaining a Legacy
Adams acknowledged the formidable responsibility to maintain the property given to the United States by France and administered by the American Battle Monuments Commission.
and was awarded the Purple Heart.
“We want to preserve that legacy for future generations…who can come here and remember those sacrifices and have that same experience to remember that legacy.” Adams expects thousands of visitors to arrive as the 82nd anniversary of D-Day approaches. He is a native of Pennsylvania and a veteran who calls every day of work amazing.
“This is the best job I’ve had in my life. But I start my day by raising two flags over the
cemetery. We open up the gates and usually there are people waiting to come in. Everyone here has that feeling of respect for the people who are laid to rest here, the accomplishments of that generation and that part of history.”
