Thanks for the links jgg, and Maureen, thanks especially for your kind words. My heart is truly breaking at the thought that he might make this decision. My husband took him to see "Flags of our Fathers," a couple of weeks ago, which is also very graphic, but that didn't change his mind. I've even suggested that he look at going to the Univ. of Hawaii, but right now he wants the Marines. He makes good grades and is very smart, and he's very much college material, so maybe we'll work out some sort of compromise with him. We're just trying to be very calm with him right now about his decision because when he turns 18 in May, it is truly his decision and not ours, although he has said he would not sign if I was totally against it.

Thanks everybody, for your suggestions. I've already e-mailed Michael Osman re a tour.

I just tried to find the website for paris-trip.com, but it doesn't open. It this the right address?

I just opened it using this: http://www.paris-trip.com/.

Also, be a bit patient with Michael Osman, he does have a reputation for not responding to e-mails in a timely manner. If you don't hear from him in a week, don't hesitate to contact him again. I had to do that. When you recieve his e-mails they are so full of helpful info. and he is so willing to meet your interests and desires - it is absolutely worth the wait!

A trip to the Caen Peace Memorial (www.memorial-caen.fr) should calm just about any gung-ho person down, especially the film of the before-and- after pictures of all of the French cities of the region. Near the D-Day beaches, you will see American and other allied flags flying everywhere, but it must not be forgotten either that it is the Allies who had to destroy most of the towns to liberate them. (The same phrase came up in Vietnam years later, and there are quite a few Iraqi cities that are not looking so good either due to their liberation.)

Last year, hubby and I spent 4 nights (3 1/2 days) in Paris.

It was WAY too short - granted, we didn't sightsee as efficiently as we could/should have (doubled back a few times) - but there was a lot of stuff we never even got too.

I'd skip Normandy this time!

Of course one can do it, and if this is a special goal of your husband for some reason and would be the highlight of his trip, he should do what he wants to do--with your son, I guess. There are several day tour companies that do that, I'd recommend that rather than trying to put it all together yourself. It's not clear why they want to do that so much, but I could see it if you lost a relative there or something. If it's just an interest in history, as you say, I think there are certainly less rushed ways to indulge that given it's such a short trip.

If they don't go there, they just re-opened a couple years ago an excellent WWII section in Les Invalides military museum right in Paris, which I really enjoyed and I'm not a military or war buff at all (but I am very interested in history). It was very well done, so I think they would really like that. The last time I was there, I think the WWI section was closed, which I especially wanted to see, so you may need to check on that.

I'm in a similar boat with DH & another couple we are traveling with at the end of April. We're spending 2 nights (1 day) in Paris at the end of our week. They insist on going to Normandy on this one day so...I'm going to book a 12 hour day trip for them while I wander the street of Paris. Good luck!

I hate to say this, since I do like to see as many sights as possible when I travel, but I would use the full 3 days to stay in Paris. Normandy perhaps could be on hold for another return to Paris?

I spent only about 3 full days in Paris and still did not get to see even half of what Paris really has to offer.

Okay, I talked to my husband (he's out getting more frequent flier points for us!) and we agreed that we'd probably hold off on Normandy for this trip. There's always another time for Normandy.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I think you made a good decision in terms of having a good and manageable trip.

I suspect, and earnestly hope, that it is also a good decision for the sake of your son. While the Normandy landings and the subsequent battles are within living memory for some people, to an 18-year old they might seem like ancient history, and be sanitised by the passage of time. He might be tempted to see the heroics and achievements rather than the sacrifice and suffering.

I hope he makes a decision that is good for him and that makes you happy.

Has your son considered college and ROTC?

Samsaf, I also think it was wise to leave Normandy for another trip. At that time of year, it will still be getting dark fairly early in the day. Even if you got a super early start from Paris and had a very quick lunch, your time seeing the D-Day sights in daylight would be brief.

Thanks, everybody. I feel good about our decision to bypass Normandy for this trip.

Yes, we've been talking to him about ROTC in college, but as of last night he still wants to go directly into the Marines. I can tell you that lots of prayers are being said in this house!

One bright note I can interject re: joining the military is that my husband always credits the Air Force for really being a big help to starting his career. He joined in '71, when it was a choice between getting drafted by the Army (he had a very low draft number) or joining the Air Force. So, he joined up.

The military at that time (hopefully still today) did very good testing, to determine your aptitude. They put him to work in the hospital's ER, and he found his passion in medicine. And with the GI bill, he was able to pay for med school after he was discharged from the AF. So, he always looks back at his military experience as a very positive one.

Although, he has pretty hysterical stories about basic training! And, he was never sent to Vietnam, even though it was still waging during his service. He was always stationed in the States, thank goodness.

I hope your son makes a good decision that will serve him well in the future. And I hope he never goes to war!
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