Liberation Tour 2024: Day 4 - a little lighter

After yesterday’s here-there-and-everywhere schedule, we took things a little easier today.

Our first stop was La Petite Chappelle in Mortain, also known as Hill 314. From the top of the hill behind the chapel you can see the entire Mortain valley stretched out in front of you. While it’s a lovely wooded walk up to the chapel today, it was “a moonscape” in 1944, said Jerry Meyer, our tour host. No trees, no shelter, just incoming artillery and aerial attacks. According to the National Guard website, the Anti-tank Company, 3rd Battalion, 120th Infantry Regiment, 30th Infantry Division (N.C., S.C., Tenn.) had set up a roadblock and kept the Germans from advancing. After the hill and roadblock were surrounded by the German Army, the men held out for six days before two tanks and two trucks broke through the German positions and brought supplies to the men on Hill 314. According to Jerry, the truck drivers were men from Nebraska.

If you're interested, you can read more about Hill 314 at https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/30th-infantry-division-battle-mortain.

We had lunch (which was delicious, by the way) in the town of Mortain in a restaurant across the street from the church. After lunch we had a few minutes to look around the town. I headed across to the church. Pictures displayed around the town showed the devasation and destruction suffered during the war. The church was partially destroyed and, eerily enough, one of my pictures was taken from almost exactly the same angle as the 1944 photo.

This illustrated manuscript is on display at the church in Mortain. The page that's fallen down behind the book is a copy of the original page (I think) that's been redone and is in the book.

I’m going to skip over Brittany American Cemetery for a moment. I hope you understand why when I do get there.

When we got back to Caen, we had the evening to ourselves. Usually we split into groups interested in the same restaurants or activities and head out. I went with Vicki, Mike and Becky to visit the cathedral, climb the castle walls and then find dinner. Eglise Sainte-Pierre, as with every cathedral, includes stained glass windows, a high arched ceiling and carvings galore. I love walking through the cathedrals, looking at the artwork and marveling at the craftsmanship. Everything was done by hand with what we would consider primitive tools. Those craftsmen could probably teach some of us a lesson in perseverance and pride in one’s work. Even the drainspouts on the top dome that no one has seen up close since the cathedral was built were created with the same care and pride that those nearest the street were.

The four of us then headed to the Chateau de Caen. According to the Normandy Tourism website, it was built around 1060 by William the Conqueror. While we didn't exactly storm the castle and we couldn’t get all the way up to the top because of construction, we could go part of the way and still see the city of Caen. You get a spectacular view of the cathedral from the ramparts.

Earlier in the afternoon, we stopped at Brittany American Cemetery to visit the seven Nebraska National Guard soldiers buried there. We were able to do the wreath laying in the chapel, which was under construction or renovation when we were here last. After visiting our men, sanding the graves and taking the pictures, the group asked to sand a grave of an unknown. That was the most poignant moment of the day.

To the family of this unknown soldier, lying thousands of miles from home surrounded by thousands of other young men who also gave their lives in the same conflict, we don’t know who you are, where you live, what became of you. But know that we haven’t forgotten. We thank you. We thank your soldier. And we remember.