France Day 5 - hedgerows and Liberation Day

 Day 5 - July 18

Today was just hot – it hit 105 in St. Lo, which was where we were for most of the day. I should be used to it. After all, I’m from Nebraska. But it was HOT.

La Cambe Cemetery

We started out with a stop at La Cambe, a German cemetery. It’s different from the American cemeteries with groups of five black Germanic crosses scattered among the square flat grave markers. In the middle is a mound topped by a black statue of a man and a woman with plaques listing names mounted around the bottom; I was told that’s where the unidentified German soldiers are buried. It was a more somber look to the cemetery than any I’d seen. It was actually a little sad. La Cambe holds 21,222 identified soldiers and 23,000 names.

Looking down a hedgerow in Normandy

We met Geoffrey, who is originally from Brisbane, Australia, but has lived in France for the last 30 years. He told us at lunch he came for a girl (to whom he’s married) he met while traveling. Elizabeth is from France. He was an English teacher before he became a guide, so that was cool to hear. Geoffrey took us into hedgerow country in Normandy. A hedgerow is a living fence, he said, that includes trees, shrubs and often Hawthorne because of its thorns. The hedgerows were used as fences and separated the small fields. The trees meet overhead to form a kind of tunnel that’s used as a thoroughfare. Some are used to move livestock from field to field - even today. Others are wider and paved and used for pedestrians.

It was sobering to walk through those sunken lanes. As the wind rustled through the leaves and cornstalks, common enough sounds in Nebraska, again I was trying to imagine the sounds of war – tanks rumbling, screeching, clanking over the earth walls of the hedgerows, soldiers shouting and screaming as they fought through the dense vegetation while trying to avoid the German weaponry, mortars exploding, rifles firing, chaos, the smell of gunpower mixed with burning equipment, wood and men, the heat from the sun, no air moving down in the hedgerow. Knowing that your next movement might be your last, your next thought could be the last you think. Fear of failure, of letting down the man next to you, of getting wounded, of not getting back home.

We crossed Hill 122 as we walked. It doesn’t look like much today, just a small farm with cows, and I’m sure it wasn’t much in 1944. But it was an important objective in the push toward St. Lo.

Alan Baldwin stands in front of a plaque commemorating actions in World War II.

We stopped at the church in the town. Jerry told us a sniper nest was located in the steeple, and the snipers were picking off the Allied troops as they approached. The Allies took care of the problem and allowed the soldiers to continue on.

We had lunch in St. Lo and stopped at several sites around town before participating in two of the town’s three Liberation Day ceremonies. First stop was Le Eglise Sainte-Croix where Major Thomas Howie’s body was brought after he was killed in action. He was with the 29th Division and was simply known as “the major of St. Lo” because the media didn’t want to identify him. Just a bit different from today’s media, no? The church was in ruins when the 29th entered, but they covered Howie’s body with a flag and placed it on the rubble. 

The flags indicate where Major Thomas Howie's flag-draped body was placed. You can also see where the war damage stopped and started.

L'église Sainte-Croix used to have two towers. You can see where the second was sheared off in the middle of the arch.

Of course, we also went into the church to look around. Damage is still visible on the facade of L’eglise Notre-Dame de Saint-Lo. One of its two towers was completely destroyed, but you could see where it had been. It’s a huge cathedral, probably the biggest we’ve been in so far. But one of the stained glass windows had a tractor in the design. I don’t think that dates from medieval times. :) Seeing that kind of damage still existing drives home the extent of the destruction from World War II. You can see the pictures of the piles of broken stones and shattered glass, and you can get an idea. But when you see the size of the building and consider what it took to destroy it – wow.

Michael, the curator at Memorial de la Madeleine, uses a 3D model
to show the actions around St. Lo in 1944.

Our next stop was Memorial de la Madeleine, a small chapel that’s been converted to a museum. It was originally a leper colony and then became a barn for about 200 years, Michael (the curator) told us. St. Lo bought it in the late 1980s and set about restoring it, with the goal of being done by 1995. It wasn’t quite finished for the 50th anniversary celebrations. There’s a ton of information there about the 35th (Nebraska) and 29th (Virginia).

Alan Baldwin represented the Seward Rotary in St. Lo. The two cities are sister cities, and representatives exchanged banners and gifts.

Lunch was with some of the St. Lo Rotary members, including a World War II veteran. That was very cool. I didn’t know he was there until he was introduced after we ate.

The color guard (half of it), speakers and two World War II veterans participated in Liberation Day ceremonies in St. Lo.

Dave Nore lays the wreath with assistance from Tom and Jeannie Gee and Jeff and Trudy Hines.

The second ceremony was at the memorial for Major Thomas Howie.

Our group participated in a Liberation Day ceremony at the base of the St. Lo city wall honoring the 35th. Dave Nore, Tom and Jeanne Gee and Jeff and Trudy Hines were the wreath layers. We went up the street for another ceremony honoring the 29th. Also attending were two World War II veterans, ages 97 and 102 (and still spry!), both from the 29th. As we continue to lose our World War II veterans, it’s important to honor them every chance we get, I think.

Both were simple ceremonies. The emcee made some remarks, then wreaths were laid and the national anthems of the United States and France were sung.

We did not stay for the third ceremony. Jerry said when the group was at St. Lo in 2019, that ceremony took two hours. Standing in the hot sun on the pavement for that long with no shade – no thanks. We headed back to Caen for our last night in that city.

Gail Clarke and I walked down to the little market a couple blocks from the hotel to find something for supper. I just got a sandwich and chips and some gummy bears - very American. :)

More to come as the adventure continues.