150 French and American troopers participated this Tuesday, June 4 within the morning in an train on Omaha Seashore, the place, virtually 80 years earlier, greater than 34,000 males landed.
For these two pals who got here to camp within the Omaha seashore space this week of the eightieth anniversary of the Landings, waking up was considerably complicated this Tuesday morning. “Onoticed massive warships. It provides you chills“, confides Jean-François. Offshore, the amphibious helicopter provider (PHA) stands out on the horizon, behind the Mistral of the French Navy and the USS Oak Hill, of the US Navy. Then two barges and several other mild boats seem and head, at full pace, in direction of the sand.
On board, round 100 troopers, French and American, are outfitted with all fashionable gear resembling cameras connected to helmets. The boats barely have time to cease earlier than they leap into the water and rush onto the seashore. For the 2 camper pals, the present inevitably refers to different photographs anchored in Historical past. “We all know that 80 years in the past, 1000’s and 1000’s of individuals like that landed right here and had been killed for liberation. These reminiscences mechanically give shivers“, says Pascal.
Mission completed for these French and American troopers on Omaha seashore this Tuesday morning • © Gwenaëlle Louis/France 3 Normandie Caen
Among the many few privileged observers this Tuesday morning (the operation, like D-Day, was organized with the best discretion), Luc, a trainer on the Cherbourg maritime highschool, got here along with his college students to attend commemorations. “I’m a local of Port-en-Bessin and I’m used to this website. I believe it is good that we’re giving info to younger individuals who aren’t too conscious of it for the time being. There’s an emotion as a result of the positioning is already charged with emotion. And to see these virtually younger troopers present their know-how, it is good“, judges the professor. Slightly additional, an officer can not maintain again a sure emotion. “I labored for 3 years within the amphibious flotilla. It is one thing to see your comrades land on the seashore and we will, by means of this occasion, think about what it will need to have been like on D-Day.“
For Lieutenant Jeff, answerable for the amphibious commando group, emotions a priori don’t have any place on the battlefield. “If you do an train, an operation, you’re all the time centered in your topic and you consider your mission, nothing however your mission.“And so as to add:”Typically, in motion, we additionally neglect to assume. It occurs.“The reserve officer, nonetheless, is just not insensitive to the symbolic significance of the place.”It was good, if I could“, he admits, with a touch of a smile. “Put your self of their place (the troopers who landed 80 years earlier), It’s troublesome given the circumstances they skilled. In any case, we attempt to pay tribute to them at present. That is what counts.“
An train of the identical sort needs to be organized within the coming days on one other emblematic seashore of the D-Day landings • © Gwenaëlle Louis/France 3 Normandie Caen
Offshore, whereas ready for the inexperienced mild, some tried to look again 80 years. “We appeared on the seashore, we tried to think about that we had been in barges. We tried to think about what they felt 80 years in the past with the fortifications in entrance of them, the positions held, the bullets ricocheting off the boats. It is fairly robust. Final night time, we obtained into the swing of issues. The movie “The Longest Day” was proven on board the Mistral. We tried to get within the temper“, says Lieutenant Jérémie, of the thirteenth demi-brigade of the international legion. “We’re proud and completely satisfied to have the chance to honor our alumni by doing the identical factor as them.”
An train of the identical sort needs to be organized within the coming days on one other emblematic seashore of the Landings.