Classic Car Road Trip

Classic Car Road Trip Normandy 2009: A road trip in our own original 1942 Ford GPW Jeep along the D-Day landing beaches in Normandy. We visited Normandy in the last week of May and the first week of June 2009, during the celebrations of the 65th anniversary of the D-Day landings. In Normandy, each year there are many commemorations and celebrations of the D-Day landings. Every five years, World War II jeep owners and owners of other World War II military vehicles are invited to Normandy to attend one or more of the D-Day anniversary ceremonies. In our own Ford Jeep, we participated in a memorial tour along Gold Beach and the Mulberry Harbour at Arromanches-les-Bains, we participated in a parade of WWII vehicles in Bernières-sur-Mer and a memorial tour and torchlight parade in Courseulle-sur-Mer. We attended the commemoration of 65th anniversary of D-Day at Mont Saint-Michel, a small rocky island in front of the coast of Normandy. We visited the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, the best known and most visited war cemetery in Normandy, and the La Cambe German War Cemetery, here we witnessed the burial of a German soldier who fell during WWII at Grandcamp Maisy and was finally discovered 65 years after D-Day.

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   Classic Car Road Trip Normandy: Our own WWII Ford Jeep on Juno Beach, one of the five landing beaches during the Allied invasion of Normandy, called Operation Overlord, the codename for the Allied invasion and liberation of nazi-Germany occupied Europe. Operation Overlord started on D-Day, 6 June 1944, the day the Allied troops crossed the English Channel and landed on the beaches of Normandy, France. Our own jeep landed on Juno Beach in 1944, shortly after D-Day.

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   Classic Car Road Trip Normandy: Our own Ford Jeep on Gold Beach at Arromanches-les-Bains, France. A road trip in a 1942 Ford GPW Jeep along the D-Day landing beaches in Normandy, code-named by the Allies Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword. Along the coast of Normandy numerous museums and memorials are dedicated to the D-Day landings and the Battle of Normandy during the Second World War (WWII).

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   Classic Car Road Trip Normandy: The iconic Pegasus Bridge in the Pegasus Memorial Museum at Ranville. In the early hours of D-Day, the bridge over the Caen Canal at Ranville was captured by the men of the Glider Infantry Regiment of the British 6th Airborne Division, under command of Major John Howard, he had orders to 'hold the bridge until relieved' by the Allied forces moving inland from Sword Beach.

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   Classic Car Road Trip Normandy: Our own Ford GPW Jeep next to a Centaur IV tank in the village of Hermanville-sur-Mer near Sword Beach. Sword was the Allied code name for one of the five landing beaches of the D-Day landings, 6 Juni 1944, the first day of Operation Overlord. Sword was the easternmost landing area of the Normandy Allied Invasion during WWII. Sword Beach was the landing zone of the 3rd British Infantry Division and British and French Commandos.

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   Classic Car Road Trip Normandy: A WWII German Bunker at Juno Beach at Bernières-sur-Mer, captured by the soldiers of the Queen's Own Rifles of Canada on D-Day. The bunker was part of the Atlantic Wall along the Normandy Coast. The Atlantic Wall was a defensive line built by nazi Germany during WWII and stretched from Norway along the coast of continental Europe to the border of Spain.

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   Classic Car Road Trip Normandy: Bernières-sur-Mer, the first weeks after D-Day, the garden of this house was used as a temporary war cemetery for Canadian and German fallen soldiers. After WWII, the Canadian soldiers are reburied at the Bény-sur-Mer Canadian Military Cemetery, just a few kilometres from Juno Beach. The majority of the fallen German soldiers are buried at the La Cambe German Military Cemetery.

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   Classic Car Road Trip Normandy 2009: Our own Ford GPW Jeep next to the 'Würzburg-Riese' on the grounds of the Radar Station Distelfink at Douvres-la-Délivrande. 'Würzburg-Riese' was the German code-name this type of radar installations. During WWII, Radar Station Distelfink was the most important German rader station in Normandy. The radar station was part of the Atlantic Wall along the Normandy Coast. Radar Station Distelfink became a museum in 1992.

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   Classic Car Road Trip Normandy 2009: We participated in a memorial tour. In our own original WWII Ford Jeep, together with a group of WWII army vehicles from England, we drove along Gold Beach at Arromanches-les-Bains. Immediately after D-Day, the Allied Forces built two artificial harbours, the so-called Mulberry Harbours, Mulberry A was built at Omaha Beach and Mulberry B at Gold Beach in Arromanches-les-Bains. The remains of the harbours are still there.

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   Classic Car Road Trip Normandy: Driving in our own 1942 Ford GPW Jeep along Gold Beach at Arromanches-les-Bains, the remains of Mulberry B in the background. The D-Day Museum in Arromanches is directly opposite Gold Beach in Arromanches, the museum is largely dedicated to the history and the construction of the temporary mobile Mulberry Harbours. The museum also displays dummy paratrooper Rupert, especcially made for the film 'The Longest Day.

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    Classic Car Road Trip Normandy: The Ford GPW Jeep in front of the German coastal defence battery at Longues-sur-Mer. The artillery battery was built during World War II and was part of the Atlantic Wall along the Normandy Coast. The battery consisted of four casemates each housing a 150mm navy gun. The battery at Longues-sur-Mer is situated between the D-Day landing beaches Omaha and Gold.

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    Classic Car Road Trip Normandy: Driving our own Ford GPW Jeep along the Big Red One Route. The Big Red One is the legendary First Infantry Division of the U.S.A. On the morning of D-Day, the 6th of June 1944, the Big Red One landed on Omaha Beach, the most dangerous and most difficult area of the D-Day landing zones. On Omaha Beach, the losses were huge. At Omaha Beach on D-Day, over 2,400 U.S. Army soldiers were killed, wounded or went missing.

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    Classic Car Road Trip Normandy: The Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial at Omaha Beach in Colleville-sur-Mer. The war cemetery contains the graves of 9,387 American soldiers who lost their lives on D-Day and during the Battle of Normandy. The 'Garden of Missing' is dedicated to the 1,557 unidentified or missing soldiers, a semi circular wall show their names. The seven metres high statue is entitled 'The Spirit of American Youth Rising from the Waves'.

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    Classic Car Road Trip Normandy: Memorial of the U.S. 5th Engineer Special Brigade at Omaha Beach in Colleville-sur-Mer, built on a German WWII bunker. The memorial commemorates the soldiers of the U.S. 5th Engineer Special Brigade that were killed during the landings on Omaha Beach on D-Day, the 6th of June 1944. During WWII, Omaha was the Allied code-name for a 10 km long landing zone on the coast of Normandy. 

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    Classic Car Road Trip Normandy: The 65th anniversary of the D-Day landings at Mont-Saint-Michel, a small rocky island in front of the coast of Normandy. During WWII, Mont-Saint-Michel was occupied by nazi-Germany. During the four years of occupation, 325,000 German soldiers visited the island. Mont-Saint-Michel was liberated by Allied forces in August 1944. In June each year, the French have a D-Day commemoration and celebration at Mont-Saint-Michel.

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    Classic Car Road Trip Normandy: La Cambe German Military Cemetery near Bayeux. There are 21.222 burials at La Cambe. The burial mound marks the last resting place of 207 unkown and 88 identified soldiers. The other graves are marked by ground plaques. The crosses do not mark graves. Most of the soldiers buried at La Cambe fell between June 6 and August 20, 1944. In total, over 80.000 fallen German soldiers are buried in Normandy.

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    Classic Car Road Trip Normandy: La Cambe German Military Cemetery. June 2009, the burial of an unidentified German soldier of WWII, the mortal remains of this fallen German soldier were discovered at the German battery at Grandcamp Maisy in 2009, 65 years after D-Day and the Battle of Normandy. Probably, this soldier was killed during the attack of the U.S. Army Rangers on Grand Camp Maisy on 9 June 1944. The Maisy Battery was part of the Atlantic Wall.

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    Classic Car Road Trip Normandy: Poppy fields near Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer. The poppy is one of the only plants to grow on the disturbed earth of battlefields. The poppy became a memorial symbol to those who died in WWI and later wars, thanks to the WWI poem 'In Flanders Fields' by the poet and soldier John McCrae: In Flanders Fields the poppies blow between the crosses row on row.......... It became the most famous war poem of its era. John McCrae died during WWI.

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    Classic Car Road Trip Normandy: The German War Cemetery at Mont-de-Huisnes in Normandy is situated near Mont-Saint-Michel. The cemetery is actually a large mausoleum, the circular building comprises two storeys, each floor contains 34 crypt chambers. The building surrounds a lawn with a large cross in its centre. The cemetery was inaugurated in 1963, the remains of about 12.000 fallen German soldiers were reinterred here from other burial sites in France.

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    Classic Car Road Trip Normandy: One of the casemates of the German Gun Battery at Merville, situated near Sword Beach on the Normandy coast. Now, the Merville Gun Battery is a museum and memorial dedicated to the Battle of Merville Gun Battery on D-Day. A copper plaque on the museum grounds says: The remains of British and German soldiers still lie here from June 1944. Please keep that thought in mind and tread respectfully as you walk over this hallowed ground.

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    Classic Car Road Trip Normandy: Museé de la Batterie de Merville is located in casemates of the German Gun Battery at Merville. The coastal battery was part of the Atlantic Wall, overlooking Sword Beach. The museum is dedicated to the attack on the battery by British paratroopers. In the early hours of D-Day, 150 paratroopers succeeded in capturing the battery, suffering heavy casualties, 65 British soldiers were killed or wounded. On German side 22 soldiers were killed.