MooN Posted January 13 Share Posted January 13 anybody here visited? 80th anniversay this year, and if my Britanny trip doesn't come off ( looking less likely already) my plan B for the 8th may long weekend would be to go visit the landing beaches. I'm looking for info on whether I need 2 days "on site" or if one is sufficient, and what to see and what to not bother with. As the internet is only capable of supplying commercial tour operators advertisements and information pages from conspiracy theorists explaing how, "in fact", none of it ever happened, i thought I'd ask a group of people who's opinions i respect. Obviously I could,t find one, so I'm asking you lot as a last resort... anybody been and done it? 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XTreme Posted January 13 Share Posted January 13 Me and the wife always wanted to......but like with everything, life has always got in the way. Both our fathers were on the D-Day Landings......her father would never speak about it, all we knew is he drove tanks! My father was in the Royal Glos regiment and landed on Gold Beach. He was deployed as recon and got captured by the Germans. Then he saw out the rest of the war in Stalag IV-B. Contracted TB and was invalided after the war......dying in 1959 at the age of 43. We will visit these places one day.......before time runs out. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boboneleg Posted January 13 Share Posted January 13 I did it a few years ago Chris on my way back to Blighty. I managed to see most of what I wanted to see in a day but I probably only saw a quarter of what there is. I would try and factor in two days if you can I've still got plans to do some of the stuff around the Falaise pocket whenever I can get around to it. 7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted January 13 Share Posted January 13 My (occasional) riding buddy has been there, and on a Ypres tour too, he likes all thing WW1 & 2, I remember him saying he was there for 3 days, but didn't get to do and see all that he wanted too....he is hoping to do the trip again this year.. My wife always wanted to visit St. Malo, she is disappointed that it never happened. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MooN Posted January 13 Author Share Posted January 13 24 minutes ago, Clive said: My (occasional) riding buddy has been there, and on a Ypres tour too, he likes all thing WW1 & 2, I remember him saying he was there for 3 days, but didn't get to do and see all that he wanted too....he is hoping to do the trip again this year.. My wife always wanted to visit St. Malo, she is disappointed that it never happened. ST Malo is my favorite place on earth. ( so far...) first visited as a kid on a sailing boat and have been back numerous times since, it never gets old. but don't even think about going when Paris is on school holidays. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XTreme Posted January 13 Share Posted January 13 38 minutes ago, boboneleg said: I did it a few years ago Chris on my way back to Blighty. I managed to see most of what I wanted to see in a day but I probably only saw a quarter of what there is. I would try and factor in two days if you can I've still got plans to do some of the stuff around the Falaise pocket whenever I can get around to it. Where were those pics taken Bob? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busabeast Posted January 13 Share Posted January 13 2 hours ago, XTreme said: Me and the wife always wanted to......but like with everything, life has always got in the way. Both our fathers were on the D-Day Landings......her father would never speak about it, all we knew is he drove tanks! My father was in the Royal Glos regiment and landed on Gold Beach. He was deployed as recon and got captured by the Germans. Then he saw out the rest of the war in Stalag IV-B. Contracted TB and was invalided after the war......dying in 1959 at the age of 43. We will visit these places one day.......before time runs out. So you didn't really get to know your old man then Pete. I'd bet the pair of them went through some pretty horrific stuff 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XTreme Posted January 13 Share Posted January 13 9 minutes ago, busabeast said: So you didn't really get to know your old man then Pete. I'd bet the pair of them went through some pretty horrific stuff Not really no......virtually no memories. And that generation never talked about their experiences. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boboneleg Posted January 13 Share Posted January 13 1 hour ago, XTreme said: Where were those pics taken Bob? All along the coast from Port-en-Bessin going North and then inland to the church at Sainte-mere-Eglise. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boboneleg Posted January 13 Share Posted January 13 3 hours ago, XTreme said: My father was in the Royal Glos regiment So you are in fact English then .................. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catteeclan Posted January 13 Share Posted January 13 Me and Mandi went with the BMW club. Some of the chaps there organised everything from where we'd stay to coach trips and ride outs to different venues, take your pic type of thing and all the groups are busy. We did beaches, bunkers bridges and grave yards/memorials, think we had 4 days and there's much more to see. I'm sure you'd get about quicker by yourself but I'm confident you'll be missing things with only two days let alone one. We always talked about going back for the 75 anniversary, that and many other things that didn't happen. Think it was 2009 when we went. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Fallsalot Posted January 13 Share Posted January 13 2 hours ago, MooN said: ST Malo is my favorite place on earth. ( so far...) first visited as a kid on a sailing boat and have been back numerous times since, it never gets old. but don't even think about going when Paris is on school holidays. I have fond memories of ST Malo from my youth, its the first place i'd ever been where they were topless sunbathing on the beach i spent most of my time there LOL 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XTreme Posted January 13 Share Posted January 13 33 minutes ago, boboneleg said: So you are in fact English then .................. No.......if you'd read the link you've have seen this: "Besides 2nd Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment, 56th Brigade contained 2nd Battalion South Wales Borderers and 2nd Battalion Essex Regiment.". 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Fallsalot Posted January 13 Share Posted January 13 4 minutes ago, XTreme said: No.......if you'd read the link you've have seen this: "Besides 2nd Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment, 56th Brigade contained 2nd Battalion South Wales Borderers and 2nd Battalion Essex Regiment.". This is Bobs reply to this lol 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted January 13 Share Posted January 13 2 hours ago, MooN said: ST Malo is my favorite place on earth. ( so far...) first visited as a kid on a sailing boat and have been back numerous times since, it never gets old. but don't even think about going when Paris is on school holidays. It is on my wife's bucket list, looked into a visit in the past, out of our reach now. She has to make do with Mablethorpe, which is on no one's bucket list. 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saul Posted January 13 Share Posted January 13 I have always wanted to do the Normandy Beaches and spend some time taking it in. I have been to Ypres and Passchendaele and the associated museum with one of my past choirs. Also sung at the Sundown service at the Menin Gate and at Tyne Cot Cemetery. Helluva experience something that I will never forget. Both my Grandads were in WW2 and my paternal one was also in WW1. Neither of them mentioned a word about it ever, I found out some stuff after their deaths but I bet there was plenty more to tell. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boboneleg Posted January 13 Share Posted January 13 1 hour ago, Saul said: Both my Grandads were in WW2 and my paternal one was also in WW1. Neither of them mentioned a word about it ever, I found out some stuff after their deaths but I bet there was plenty more to tell. That's how it goes isn't it. I went to visit my Auntie (she's 91) in hospital a couple of weeks ago. She told me how my Grandad lied about his age to join up and fought in Egypt, Italy and France in WW2. He never ever said a word to me about it and nor did my dad. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XTreme Posted January 13 Share Posted January 13 3 hours ago, boboneleg said: That's how it goes isn't it. I went to visit my Auntie (she's 91) in hospital a couple of weeks ago. She told me how my Grandad lied about his age to join up and fought in Egypt, Italy and France in WW2. He never ever said a word to me about it and nor did my dad. None of them did! Did they all have to sign an oath of secrecy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boboneleg Posted January 13 Share Posted January 13 1 hour ago, XTreme said: None of them did! Did they all have to sign an oath of secrecy? Good point , or they did they just not want to talk about some of the things they saw . 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skippy Posted January 13 Share Posted January 13 One of my grandads was considered too old when WWII started so he stayed at home and carried on working at the Gas Board. However, after Dunkirk and leading up to D Day they were desperate for anyone fit enough to fight and he always kept himself really fit………..so, one Friday night after work he comes home later than normal and says to my Gran “well that’s it Lou, I’m off soon”………”off where”, she says……..”I’ve signed up to fight”. She wasn’t best pleased. A week or so later he went off for training and pretty soon found himself fighting across Holland, Belgium and parts of France. Like most he didn’t tell many stories according to my dad. Those that he did mention were pretty horrific by all accounts. He had two younger brothers who joined up when the war started. One went to France and was captured, spent some time in a PoW camp but escaped twice, the second time he made it to Italy and was taken in by a farmer who fed him, let him work on his farm and made sure he was out of the way when the Germans came around. Apparently he had a fling with the farmers daughter and stayed there until the war ended………made his way back to England only to find his wife had re-married as he’d been proclaimed missing, presumed dead! The second of the the two younger brothers went to the far east to fight, got captured and was made to work on the Burma Railway. He survived that and came home at the end of the war but was as skinny as a rake, could never seem to put on any weight and had a very short fuse……no wonder! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saul Posted January 13 Share Posted January 13 I think it is how their generation dealt with PTSD and the like. Just shut it away. I know my Maternal Grandfather was a damaged individual. Horrible old git if I am honest. He was in the navy, sunk twice and ended up a POW held by the Japs. I could tell you tales of what he was like and the damage he caused in my mother’s family but there is no point really. He was damaged and never really got over what happened to him. My paternal grandfather was a different kettle of fish, a lovely old chap. He served in both wars and in all 3 services. Started as a boy soldier at 16 as a kitchen porter then cook in the army during WW1 was transferred to the RFC (which became the RAF). When he was demobbed he joined the Merchant Navy between the wars then transferred to the Wavy Navy in WW2. I since found out quite a bit about both of them and what they did. Interesting to me. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XTreme Posted January 13 Share Posted January 13 That generation willingly signed up to go and fight......my father enlisted as soon as war was declared. Could you see the same response happening today? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saul Posted January 13 Share Posted January 13 Makes you wonder doesn’t it. I look at the Ukrainian’s because that’s exactly what they are doing now. I admire them. Would our youth do it today, I don’t know. Some would, there are some great kids out there. But also some very spoilt and entitled individuals. I think our generation would have as we were brought up on tales of WW2 and films, war toys, war comics and the like. Duty and service. I like to think I would have but that’s easy to say when there was Little jeopardy to my generation. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XTreme Posted January 13 Share Posted January 13 13 minutes ago, Saul said: Makes you wonder doesn’t it. I look at the Ukrainian’s because that’s exactly what they are doing now. I admire them. Would our youth do it today, I don’t know. Some would, there are some great kids out there. But also some very spoilt and entitled individuals. I think our generation would have as we were brought up on tales of WW2 and films, war toys, war comics and the like. Duty and service. I like to think I would have but that’s easy to say when there was Little jeopardy to my generation. In the 60's we entered the Cold War era.......so I think many us expected something to go off. And in the 70's these things were broadcast..... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saul Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 8 hours ago, XTreme said: In the 60's we entered the Cold War era.......so I think many us expected something to go off. And in the 70's these things were broadcast..... True but looking back at that time, compared to today, things were pretty stable globally by the 1970's. No war in Europe, China weren't in the picture and the middle east was enthral to the two superpowers. Of course we had MAD hanging over us but I would argue that the nuclear threat is greater now. Personally if a superpower nuclear conflict kicked off we would have been vaporised pretty quickly, living 26 miles from Plymouth naval dockyard. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now