Everybody is chasing their dreams day and
night. Sometimes some dreams are completed and some dreams remain incomplete. I
think if there were no dreams there won't be a driving force behind human
being. I always had this dream of visiting some important places of world war
II. On 8th May, I fulfilled my this dream by visiting Omaha Beach. I am always
fascinated by second world war. Yes it was sad and many people died in it.
But it is very important event in the history. Many innovations were
made in WW2. It changed geography of the whole world. Many
countries became free after war. People started working positively to
build new world which would be peaceful. I always think we can simply
divide the time in two parts. The one before war and the time after the
war.
Allied forces started their front against
Germans in Europe on 6th June 1944 by landing on western beaches of France.
This day was called as D-Day. But, this was not simple. Germans offered very
tough resistance and there was very fierce battle on these Landing beaches.
Omaha beach witnessed one of the fierce battle of history of world. On 8th May
1945, Nazi Germany was defeated and world war was over in Europe. Many
countries in Europe celebrated the seventieth victory day on
this 8th May. I always wanted to visit such a important place in
WW 2. And I happened to visit Omaha beach on 8th May i.e victory day.
When I booked ticket I was not aware that it is victory day. I
booked return ticket to Bayeux; a small town near D day beaches. I had no plans
about how to reach from railway station to beach. I read on online articles
that there are buses running from Bayeux railway station to Beach with little
frequency. But, to my surprise bus service was off because of victory day.
Luckily two girls, students from New York and a old couple from Arizona also
wanted to visit Omaha beach. So we decided to share taxi.
Slowly while talking
with four Americans I got to know that, Old man was in US Army. Of the two
girls, one is working and studying in Paris and one is studying Law in US.
Americans are good talker. They were very curious about India. While going to
Omaha we talked about many things. We formed a team of visitors to Omaha beach.
After reaching Omaha beach, we planned to meet the same point at 6 PM and dispersed.
There are three places to visit. One, Omaha beach second American cemetery,
third visitor center. I decided to start by visiting the Cemetery first. It is
huge cemetery with about 2000+ American soldier's final resting place. These
are those who fought bravely while landing on Omaha beach. It is very well
maintained and very beautiful place on the hills of Omaha. On each cross, name
of soldier, his city and day of death is written. Names of Medal of Honor
winners is written in gold. All cross are made of marble. Many people were
visiting the cemetery, offering roses and flowers, and respect in mind. I spent
some time there took some photos, read the messages. For the soldiers who were
not identified were written "Here rests in Honored Glory A Comrade In
Arm known But to God ". I am very happy that I visited this place.
After visiting
cemetery I climbed down the hill to the Omaha Beach. While going below I saw
the German bunkers. Two concrete bunkers are still in good condition. While
walking on the beach I was thinking about the how hard it would have been for
soldiers to fight against Germans. I was on Omaha beach. I fulfilled one of the
dreams I seen. I was very happy. Next I visited the visitor center. It is a
small museum of war. It contains some equipment used by soldiers. It shows
short films of war. They are informative. After seeing all these, I came to
meeting point at 5'O clock, one hour early. After few minutes, our team's old
members came. We had almost one hour to chat. We discussed on many things about
each others country. It was nice discussion. By 6'O clock everybody was
gathered and taxy came exact on time and then we returned to our destinations.
While returning to
Paris I was thinking what an unusual day I had! It was pleasant, strangers from
different parts of the world became friends. Hope our paths will cross again
someday.
Way to Omaha beach
German Bunker
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