It rained for part of the time while we were at Juno Beach, but it held off enough to stroll the beach, see the Croix de Lorraine (the site where de Gualle came ashore on July 14), etc. When it was raining we spent the time inside the interpretation centre. David and Craig also did the guided tour of the bunkers - a 1941 command post opened this year (they just finished getting the sand out and restoring it) and the 1944 observation post. The latter is now behind 20 metres of dunes since the storms and tides have shifted a lot of sand around. The interpretive centre had some relics and a lot of video and audio interviews (archival from the war and also reflections of veterans). The centre is manned by Canadians (usually students taking a year off after university or high school) over for a 7.5-month stint. Once again it was low tide (same as when the landings took place) so you got a feel for how far the soldiers had to cross the sand. |
| One of the Juno strongpoints: "Cosy's Pillbox" |
The beach is the first one we've seen that has lifeguards (manned by the local gendarmérie). It is right next to the local yacht club, so there were a number of catamarans out, in spite of the weather.
nice pics.
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