Visiting to Normandy was a very somber and thoughtful event. I was very surprised to see the giant dents in the ground from bombs during the D-Day operation, it was something I had never thought about. After our tour guide explained what it was, I felt a little silly that I had never considered how bombs would leave such a long lasting effect on the Earth. Omaha was specifically emotionally difficult for me, because of the other people at the beach. There were many people who were tanning and playing in the water. This was hard to watch, knowing what had happened on that very same beach 80 years ago. Especially after watching Saving Private Ryan, I had a very visual image in my head of what had happened, and yet people were enjoying summer vacation on this very same beach. Another emotional setting was the cemetery. I particularly felt strong emotion when our guide explained that some of the gravestones will say “A comrade in arms known but to God”, meaning that the soldier who died was not able to be ID’d and was most likely a name written on the Walls of the Missing.
