The visit to the Caen Normandie Memorial seemed like a recap on any high school history lessons we may have forgotten. The trip down world history between the first and second World Wars were abbreviated, thus we were unable to see everything that the memorial had to offer. However, I felt like there was a huge disconnect between the museum and myself. I loved that the entire memorial was not simply dedicated to “D-Day” alone because you cannot understand the outcome without first knowing the story. Without a clear grasp on the background of the situation, then the events that took place on June 6th 1944 would not have been fully understood. The disconnect started however with the very anticipated film they screened for a few minutes before we entered the memorial; I found it ineffective in evoking any kind of emotion; especially once I heard that parts of it were not real footage taken. The memorial’s concept of spiraling through time was interesting, but the conviction did not quite work; it felt like an overwhelming museum. I left this memorial without any feeling at all; without a desire for remembrance.

I hadn’t anticipated that our visit to Normandy would have the impact it did on me. But the trip to the American cemetery is still haunting me and I cannot stop thinking about it. The memorial at the American Cemetery at Normandy was absolutely thought provoking, emotional, and successful memorial. In “Monuments to the Dead”, Antoine Prost explained that one of the types of memorials were the “Funerary Republic” memorial, where sacrifice was glorified as a greater good. When I originally read Prost’s paper, I thought that this could never work; how can you have a republic memorial glorifying courage at a site of death? However, the American Cemetery at Normandy completely proved me wrong. The video at the beginning of the memorial literally had me in tears, the pictures of men and the stories of their sacrifice were heartbreaking, but what really made it universal was that they didn’t only speak of heroic generals and leaders, they had stories about normal college students who never even made it on shore because they drowned or the ones who got stuck in a tree and were shot down by German soldiers. They acknowledged such a variety of deaths and triumphs and sacrifices, and this made the video even more universal to all who were watching. At the end of the clip, the speaker announced that these men were all fighting for the liberty of all mankind as pictures of soldiers flashed through the screens. This video was just personal enough, just touching enough and realistic enough to set the mood for the rest of the memorial. I never considered myself an overly patriotic American, however, words cannot describe what feeling of pride overcame me when I was in that memorial. Next was the hallway where names are being read as you walk along the passage. Seeing a name and hearing a name are two completely different experiences; hearing a name brings it to life.

The beauty in the cemetery only makes the realization of over 9,000 graves even more unsettling. Imagining the sacrifices that not only they made, but their families made to allow them to be rested there, to deal with losing their loved ones was heartbreaking. Although the memorial at the cemetery called for a completely different structure and sentiment than the museum in Caen did; I truly believe that Caen should inspire to evoke some of the same feelings. The fact that the gift shop in Caen had such a large gift shop with tank-eraser pencils and umbrellas and coffee mugs commercialized the entire event and completely glorified D-Day to the point where all sentiment had been removed from what was actually being memorialized.

In a sense, I am torn about the beautiful landscaping and visuals you see at the American cemetery, simply because I feel that the beauty is actually distracting and disconnecting for many observers. However, on the other hand, I believe that the juxtaposition of this beauty surrounding such a disaster in a way represents the beauty of sacrifice and glory which is really only hiding the ugliness of war.

By Suzy