Operation Overlord Homage Tour: Included Experience
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port
Cherbourg (Normandy), France
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activityLevel
Moderate Activity
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excursionType
Information Not Currently Available
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wheelchairAccessible
No
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startingAtPrice
Information Not Currently Available
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minimumAge
Information Not Currently Available
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duration
Approximately 9 Hours
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mealsIncluded
Meals included
Joined by a local historian, our tour will take us along down the Cotentin Peninsula and eastwards along the coast from Cherbourg to the village of Colleville-sur-Mer. Here, on the wooded hillside overlooking Omaha Beach and the English Channel, is the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial. In this pristine and peaceful place, lie the neatly tended and aligned graves of 9,388 American servicemen, most of whom lost their lives during the invasion of Normandy and subsequent battles.
Following our arrival at the cemetery, we will take part in a ceremony to honour all those who sacrificed their lives fighting for the freedom of Europe, during which a wreath of flowers will be placed at the memorial in the name of your ship.
After this moving, commemorative occasion, we will continue down to Omaha Beach, where more than 32,000 US soldiers disembarked their landing craft of 6 June 1944. Omaha Beach was the scene of some of the highest casualties of the D-Day landings, with the loss of more than 2,500 American troops here on this single day.
We will then proceed to the Overlord Museum, just a short distance inland from Omaha Beach, where we will allow time for a self-guided visit. The museum, which opened in 2013, traces the period of the Allied landings until the liberation of Paris, through displays, models, and reconstructions which incorporate an impressive collection of the personal items of soldiers.
After lunch at the Chateau La Cheneviere, will re-join the coach for the drive back towards the Cotentin Peninsula to the proceed to the town of Sainte-Mere-L’Eglise. One of the first town to be liberated from the Germans followed the Allied invasion, it was here that the parachute of US paratrooper John Steele became caught on the spire of the town church. During our guided visit of the village, we will see the church spire, now adorned with a model of John Steele, who had to watch the battle below as he played dead whilst suspended from the roof of the church.
After some free time to explore Sainte-Mere-L’Eglise, we will make a short photo stop at Utah Beach, where more than 23,000 US troops came ashore in simultaneous landings with those undertaken at the other four D-Day beaches.
This concludes our tour, and from here we return to our ship at Cherbourg.
Please note: We advise guests to wear comfortable non-slip walking shoes and bring a waterproof windbreaker. For operational reasons, this tour may visit the sites mentioned in a different order, however all sites listed will be visited.