June 2, 2024
Backpackers often find it hard to travel within a country on Sundays, Holidays, and Feast Days. That was our experience today. The buses were not working, so we planned on hiking 3.8 KM (2+ miles) from the Carentan train stations to The D-Day Experience Museum, aka Dead Man’s Corner.
At the station, we discovered that “navettes” shuttles could take us. Unfortunately, a parachute drop on the outskirts of town blocked the roads, and the shuttles never came. Since we had an appointment with Michel Detrez, the museum director, Dennis and I quickly walked the distance, weaving through the crowd.
The director took us to the Ernie Blanchard Panel at the museum. Dennis presented a Zeiss Ikon Super Ikonta 533/16 camera that Ernie Blanchard had taken from a field artillery observer office during the Battle of the Bulge. After handing over the camera, we went to see the plaque that the museum put up in honor in our names in honor of PFC Ernie Blanchard.
We then visited the 3-D Theater and the simulation of “La Manche,” the English Channel on D-Day. Both exhibitions gave me a deeper understanding of the D-Day effort.
