The memorial to the 7 paratroopers at Hemevez.
A much fought over bridge on the left and one of the (supposed to be) biggest drop sites from D-Day for the partroopers (although lots didn't end of being dropped here).
She took us to the Massacre site and we also went to the town church where the memorial is for the 7 GI’s. This part of the country had mostly paratroopers here that were landing then trying to meet the troops halfway who stormed the beaches (that was the plan anyway). Lots of the paratroopers, because of weather and poor conditions, missed landing sites and basically it sounds like pandemonium trying to find out where they were because of the hedgerows everywhere. The Germans also flooded a lot of the land that they were to land on. And many drowned in less than 3 feet of water b/c of all the equipment they jumped with. We went to see many different memorials close to Hemevez and the German cemetery. It was just really moving. Grave markers as far as the eye could see. Most of the headstones were for boys much younger than me, 18, 19, some even 15. Not much of a life. It was just sad basically. We went to one memorial and there was an American giving a small tour to a family and he was just talking about different battles that were fought there at that bridge trying to capture it and he just kept making it all into what seemed like a ‘war video game’. He even said one time that after such and such happened it was, ‘game on’. It was irreverent in my opinion. None of this was a ‘game’.
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