What preparations are you making for 6th June?

[Harvey]

I am hearing all sorts of rumours about what will be happening..15 Heads of State arriving,(but no-one knows exactly who,when or where) all roads closed, no movement of traffic at all on N13 from Caen to St Mere Eglise and no movement of traffic at all on the day in and out of towns and villages. Obviously security is going to be on red, red, red alert, Here,(near Pont du Hoc) helicopters are flying overhead daily, last week I noticed a battleship on the horizon. So, what will we see, if anything? Maybe best to stay in and watch it all on TV.

The Mayor has requested that we all put something red, white and blue on our houses/shops..I have made flower displays in pots with these colours in, plus all being well, I will be flying the flags of USA, France and UK in the front garden. Was anyone there for 50th who can tell us what was it like.

[Punch]

>Was anyone there for 50th who
>can tell us what was
>it like.


I was.
I remember i was travelling back to Caen to get the ferry back to the Uk and came across an amazing sight on approaching Ouistreham. The Royal yatch was travelling up the canal towards the port and the banks of the canal were lined 10 deep with thousands of people waving flags and cheering. There was total gridlock and no traffic could move for a least an hour.At the port itself the Queen came on deck wearing a bright yellow outfit and waved to everyone. There were some lovely displays of French dignitary uniforms and music playing.

Then there were flypasts of military aircraft and by far the best highlight was when the sky filled with hundreds and hundreds of parachutists dropping from the skies above. Many of these parachutists were veterans from the 2nd WW who were jumping with the armies and navies of several countries.

You just couldn't help but be moved by the sight of this. Something i'll certainly never forget.

Regards,

Paul

[Val_2]

Nothing been mentioned here out West, so guess it is a Normandy thing. I didn't know anything about it until the threads started to appear on here. We shall try and watch the TV coverage.

[Pixietoadstool]

I hope the roads aren't closed - we're due to be returning from Caen on the 9 a.m. sailing and have to get from near Vire! Maybe will leave extra, extra early so as not to miss the boat!

Any ideas about whether these rumours are true? BF knew nothing when I asked them last week

Valerie

[Causette]

LAST EDITED ON 20-May-04 AT 11:48 PM (BST)

Like most other people, I'm resigned to not getting anywhere near the actual landing beach sites. The Pays d'Auge (lcoal paper) had a map in it showing the cordoned off areas, although it looks as if there's a sort of Park and Ride set up to bus you in to the commemmoration areas.

Last Sunday afternoon, we went to the beach at Ouistreham, where they were making the word 'Normandie' by having us all stand in the letters marked out on the sand. There were a fair few there, but there were many more people just standing at the top of the beach watching and not joining in. Shame, really. They had 'Liberte' and 'France' on other beaches.

Did anyone else go to one of these?

JudyM (14)

[Diana]

10 years ago for the 50th before we had our house we stayed for a week at the Hotel de la Marine in Arromanches. We had an amazing view of everything right from the terrace outside our room, which was just as well because the town was closed to traffic for about 3 days. From memory of conversations we had with people who had managed to get there on a daily basis the roads were grid locked for miles around and they had to walk for the last mile or so. There was a huge campsite on the edge of town for old military vehicles and re-enactors, the vehicles were not allowed out for this period. When they finally opened the gates the column of tanks, armoured vehicles, jeeps etc just went on forever.

Diana