Topping for Cat and Micheline trip planning

HTT, thank you so much for this! I think I will print it out and go over it with SO. and I did order the book you mentioned for his b-day. It looks great!

In one post you said:
<i> Most of the visitors were our age or older. What happens when our generation is gone? </i>

Can I ask how old you are?

D'oh! I guess I will have to somehow cut out my posts or show him after his birthday!

Cat, I call myself &quot;the last of the war babies&quot;.

I had an uncle, naval lieutenant, who was in charge of 7 landing craft in the first wave at Omaha Beach -- so of course I wanted to go there.

Although their craft hit an underwater obstruction and sunk, he is still alive at 86. I was so pleased to be able to go and see the beach while he was still alive.

Maybe, the &quot;our age&quot; thing concerns me because I substitute teach and run into kids in our high schools who do NOT even know who we were fighting. They also don't know who John F. Kennedy was.

OK, I'm on a hobby horse here, but I think any American who can and who is in the area, should see the D-Day beaches, and should see Pearl Harbor. I haven't personally seen the World Trade Center site, but that should make the list.

although a few months behind, I enjoyed it.

thanks for the details - I know they take a long time to type and keep straight, but I enjoy feeling like we are tagging along.

side note: My father was in WWII. I am 41. We visited Normandy a few years ago and were enthralled. Admittedly, we (Mr. S and I) know more about WWII than most people our age, but there are some who remember.

Funny how we think we are unique, and then find so many like us out there.

SO and I are both at the tail end of the Baby Boom. He is about to turn 50 and I am 45 but we both had parents in WWII. Though his dad was in the Pacific, my dad was in Europe, and though he missed D-Day, he was in Normandy for a bit, before heading into Belgium, and took leave in Le Havre. I so want to visit while there are still people who remember.

I am also a sub teacher, and love to tell kids about my dad's experience, because in many ways, WWII is as far away to them as the Civil War is to us.

Surfmom, I know what you mean about others our age not really knowing as much or being as interested in WWII. I hope that at least my own children will hold a special interest in that time of our history.

sidenote - surfmom, are you in the L.A. area? Do you ever go to the GTGs around here&gt;

cat, yes I agree... similar thoughts.

I've tried to make history come alive for my children by explaining how things happened. My 6yo is obsessed with Ste Chappelle as the place where the mean king who cut off heads went. We'll work on straightening out the details later :)

My father landed at Normandy at D-day +2 - he was in the Signal Corps responsible for decoding German radio messages. He talks about by D-day, it was incredibly easy b/c all the codes had been broken by then. He was on an officer ship waiting for the invasion with little to do for about 2 weeks prior to the invasion - he remembers it being nice weather and the guys able to sun themselves on deck since there wasn't much to do. He also remembers when they were moving the front forward they took a jeep one day and went for a ride... he thinks crossing into Russian territory. He remembers running into a group of Russians and deciding it was about time to head back to where they knew they should be.

I agree, those are the stories that are getting lost. However, some of the movies that have been made over the last 10 years are incredible - Saving Private Ryan is one of my favorites.

Not in LA, east coast. need to change my screen name, but too lazy.

Interesting input. I guess I shouldn't lump all young kids in the same group--I know there are some aware ones out there.

I am glad that Ambrose got people interested in taping the older generation's WWII stories. I think Reagan's speech at Pont du Hoc awakened interest too.

WW1 is also still interesting to lots of Europeans. Not sure about non-Europeans.

Topping for Brioche who is planning a Brittany trip.

Thanks for topping this, hoping. I missed it the first time around and enjoyed it on this gloomy, dreary afternoon.

Thanks, hopingtotravel! Great trip report!

brioche, for a Brittany trip, you may be interested in our phototravelogue at http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=...&x=0&y=-24d4pe