WWII Road Trip: French Cathedrals

Actual date of this event: 12-13 July

Note: Technically, these towns are not in "Normandy". But they were heavily involved in the war.

As Luke and I drove by several French towns on our road trip, we saw massive cathedrals towering over the other buildings. After we finished our World War II explorations on Saturday, we decided to use Sunday to visit some of these cathedrals. To find the location of each cathedral, I would simply zoom in to the town, enter "cathedral" and go with whatever google-maps-lady declared was the town's cathedral. It seemed to work all right!

The journey began on Saturday though as we did not want to back track. On the way home from La Fiere, we decided to stop in Bayeux. Officially name Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Bayeux, Bayeux Cathedral was difficult to photograph as a whole as it was nestled in a small square of the town. As we were quite exhausted from our long day, we only just snapped a few pictures and then hit the road again. 

On Sunday, we first stopped in Rouen to see Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Rouen, or Rouen Cathedral. The main spire was huge (almost 500ft tall), but we were still pretty close to fitting the whole building into one frame. The exterior decor was amazing, specifically the front (the first picture is a side view). Inside the church were damaged sculptured that used to be on the exterior. We, of course, liked Saint Andre the best!

On our way out of Rouen, we saw some of Rouen's unique architecture which has me wanting to go back for more!! I hopped out to take a few pictures while Luke made the block.

And again, as we were on our out of town, we had to stop again when we passed by another church, Church of St. Ouen. We put an end to it there though as we would have stayed for hours looking at all of Rouen's churches.

Next, we stopped in Amiens. The Amiens Cathedral (Basilique Cathédrale Notre-Dame d'Amiens) was very easy to photograph! It seemed the cathedrals were getting better and better as we stopped. This one was actually listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981. It is the largest cathedral in France (based on its internal dimensions).

We could have stopped in more town on our drive, but we had a ferry time to catch. We departed France with some glorious sunshine though!

But that only lasted so long. As we got closer to the White Cliffs of Dover, those British clouds gathered overhead with what looked like a storm. We still haven't made it to Dover yet to get a better view of these famous cliffs, but we are counting this as a visit for now :-)

Over all, our road trip was a great success, and I am so glad we took the time visit as many World War II sites as possible in Normandy. It was an indescribable feeling to be standing in the exact spot where a huge historical event took a huge turn. This is one trip I will never forget! I can't wrap this up without giving a major huge thanks to my husband for doing ALL of the driving for the weekend. If I was licensed to drive in the UK, I would have pitched in, but he took one for the team! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Other Normandy posts: Caen. the Landing Beaches, La Fiere, French Cathedrals

RANDOM FACT:
Rouen is located on The Seine, the same river that runs through Paris.

WWII Road Trip: La Fiere, France

Actual date of this event: 12 July, 2014

Debbie has asked me to write this “guest” blog due to the nature of the content and its relation to my family.  I've been busy, but finally got around to it.  Sorry about the delay – Luke B

We left Utah Beach and headed towards our next destination: a tiny stone bridge across Le Merderet, which is a small river (or more like a large stream) in the middle of open farmland a couple of miles outside of Sainte-Mere-Eglise.

Amazingly, in 1944, this tiny bridge across an otherwise insignificant stream would hold great significance to the future of the success of the Allied Invasion, and thus to the future of the world. 

It would also hold even more significance to a family thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean in southern Louisiana.   

An otherwise unremarkable stone bridge, la pont de la Fiere is one of the (thankfully) only direct, physical connections between my immediate family and the world-altering event that was World War II, and (more specifically) the D-Day landings.  The significance is that my grandmother’s first husband, after parachuting into Normandy behind enemy lines on the very early morning of June 6^th, 1944 (think “Band of Brothers”), was killed holding it to keep it out of Nazi hands.  He was Major Frederick C. A. Kellam , 1/505^th, 82^nd Airborne (KIA June 6, 1944), and he was only one of the hundreds of brave Americans who were killed defending this bridge, and to whom a park & memorials is now dedicated just adjacent to it.

{Pont de la Fiere across Le Merderet, with Parc Memorial de la Fiere in background}

{"Iron Mike" paratrooper monument}

Fred wasn’t my grandfather, but he was the father of my mom’s half-brother Michael.  Additionally, his death occurred over a decade before my mother was born, and so my mom’s connection to Fred was through Michael & her mother (my grandmother).  For these reasons, I never knew much about Fred other than the fact that he was part of my grandmother’s life from before she met my grandfather, he was a respected leader during the D-Day landings, he was killed on D-Day defending a bridge, and that he was memorialized in a stained glass window in the church we attended back in southern Louisiana growing up (which, coincidentally, has a long-standing connection to the French due to the Acadian/Cajun heritage).

After only recently becoming interested in World War II following a visit to the National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana (which I would HIGHLY recommend by the way…one of the best history museums I've ever been to) about 3 years ago, I became more interested in Fred’s story.  Then, after having the opportunity to live in Europe and thus have something like the landing beaches at Normandy easily accessible, I felt like I’d be remiss to not visit this area on behalf of my extended family.  This was my opportunity to learn more.   Thankfully, there was a load of great info available at the park on various info boards & memorials.

Even though Fred isn't my blood relative and I don’t have a personal, direct connection to him or to this bridge, being there was a surreal experience for me.   As we travel throughout Europe, there are thousands of years of history that have influenced the differences in the different places, cultures, buildings, languages, etc.  However, every little nuance to do with the way Europe is, and to the way different parts of Europe are today, can be traced directly back to the events & results of WWII…only about 70 years ago.  It was easily one of the most (if not THE most) significant events in recent human history, and this was my closest meaningful personal connection to it.  I felt extremely humbled and thankful for the state of the Western world that I've had the opportunity to live in for my entire life, and it was surreal that it was partially all a result of bravery on a tiny bridge in the middle of a field in France 70 years ago…

{view from the park towards the bridge}

I know that some of Fred’s living relatives have an interest in WWII, and specifically in D-Day and in the circumstances that led to their loss of a family member.  However, I don’t know if they've ever had the opportunity to visit Normandy and/or this specific location.  I don’t know if they’d want to or not.  Either way, in visiting this place, I hoped I was doing something meaningful for an indirect relative & his family who did so much more for me, my family, my country, & my life.

Please Note: If anyone related to Fred or who knows much more about the history of Bataille de la Fiere and the circumstances of Fred’s actions on D-Day reads this, I apologize for any inaccuracies in the historical bits related to the circumstances of his death.  I’m trying to learn more of the details, so this simply reflects my understanding thus far.

Other Normandy posts: Caen. the Landing Beaches, La Fiere, French Cathedrals

RANDOM FACT:
A similar statue to the "Iron Mike" can be found in Fort Bragg, USA, where the 82nd Airborne Division was, and still is, based.
Ceremonies and demonstration jumps take place in La Fiere on June 6 every year.