Our visit to this town provided us with one of the best and most interesting times we ever
have had on our trips. and it came about almost by chance. When we left St. Malo we were heading for Caen. But Adelle
had a guidebook on her lap and opened it at random to a page listing Ste. Mere Eglise. She started reading and saw that
the guidebook rated the campground there as one of the best in France. It was located almost in the center of town. We
decided on the spot that it would make a good stop instead of driving on farther. But we had just passed the exit to go there.
We took the next exit and backtracked. We are so glad we did.
It just so happened that this was the first week in June.
The anniversary of D-Day is June 6. When we pulled up to the entrance to the campground we were staring at a World War II bivouac,
complete with army tents, proper vintage vehicles and men in 1940's uniforms. This scene was to be repeated over and over again
for the next several days. We had not realized it, but this part of Normandy really celebrates D-Day and people come from
the United States and Britain to take part. But it turned out that most of the people we saw in 1940's American uniforms were
French men and women who turn out to be serious collectors of American military stuff who love to dress up, march around the
town and drive around in the precious vehicles that the U.S. armed forces left in Europe at the end of the war. They took
possession them then and have kept them in mint condition ever since. There are clubs all over France of such collectors.
Our
visit included a tour of the
American Airborne Museum in the town, and a live parachute jump on the spot where the first Airborne
troops landed on June 5, 1945. Their orders were to prepare the way for the landing by digging in at the Merderet River outside
of town and preventing a German tank counter attack from coming across the Merderet Bridge by the La Fiere Cafe. They were
commanded by General
James Gavin and succeeded in this task. You can read all about our visit in this town where Americans
can do no wrong in the
letter we wrote. There are
photos of the town, of the church steeple which the townspeople keep
decorated with a life-sized model of a paratrooper and a parachute, and of the scene at the jump area. Look for a gentleman
in a red jacket pointing to the spot he landed on that day. He comes back every year to participate. If you can manage
a visit to this charming and historic town in early June--in any year you won't be sorry.
