NI Photowalk - Omaha Beach

We went to Omaha Beach early in the morning, when the tide was low.  We arrived around 9 AM, but the troops on D-Day started coming in when the tide was even lower at 6 AM.  They had a long way to go to reach safety.  The cliffs along Omaha were steeper and stacked with German machine gun nests.  The bombers, afraid of hitting their own troops, delayed dropping their charges, which made the resistance even tougher for the American troops coming ashore.  Omaha Beach was a blood bath.

Allied swimmers had come ashore during the planning stages and taken samples of beach sand.  They knew they needed a beach that was strong enough to support the heavy machinery they would need to unload to help their advance.  The consistency of the sand was unlike anything I had ever walked on.  Our feet barely made imprints as we walked across the beach.

For those coming ashore here, their goal was the Vierville Draw, the opening in the cliffs where the tall house with the red roof is located.  They had to cross the beach in order to reach it.

The opening in the cliff is a former German bunker. Gunfire would have been coming toward the Americans from that spot as they unloaded onto the beach.

The tide comes in quickly. Dr. Gorn told about walking out on the beach, and all of a sudden finding herself trapped on a sandbar.  She had to wade back to safety.  Some of our students got cut off by this eddy.

Same eddy about ten minutes earlier.

A gentleman was running his cart pony while we were visiting the beach.

There is a memorial and an observation platform overlooking the beach.

I found a whole clam.  I had never seen one on a beach before.

On display along the road leading away from the beach is a mulberry, one of the artificial harbors that the Allies built in order to be able to bring in bigger ships with more supplies and equipment.