The Jensen Owners' Club

i hope we are not about to go down this road again but who know's

Fantastic 'Then' and 'Now' shot! Well done Shaun.

Thank Chris Reed for finding it.
Had a great trip around.
The enormity of the invasion and subsequent follow up cannot be appreciated until you see it first hand many decades later.

I was just there after meeting up with Shaun and Zac…

It is impossible to comprehend the enormity of the event, and sacrifices made…

Where about was you Shaun ??

That was about 3km outside Sainte-Mère-Église in the direction of Utah beach.

Chris_R wrote: ↑Mon Jul 25, 2022 6:20 pm That was about 3km outside Sainte-Mère-Église in the direction of Utah beach.

Thank you.. may I ask is it near the second would war village that has been left as a monument??

I'm not aware of that one Colin. Sainte-Mère-Église is the town where a paratrooper got caught on the roof of the church on D-Day and to this day there is a manikin with a parachute hanging from the roof to commemorate that. There's a couple of roads leading from the town towards the beaches and the cafe is along one of them.

It's great that you knew where to stop. That cafe isn't a landmark in the way Pegasus Bridge is, or the Tiger 1 at Vimoutiers, or the Mulberry Harbour remains on the beaches, but is does feature from time to time on war history forums and websites. Here is a link to one that gives another before and after photo and a Google map to show where the cafe is (you do need to scroll down but it's there).

http://oldnewsofthewar.com/event/sainte-mere-eglise/

The village that was destroyed and left as a monument is Oradour-sur-Glane which is near Limoge, far to the south of Normandy, but the destruction of the village and the massacre of the villagers was carried out by an SS panzer division on its way to Normandy so there is a connection.

John