The fight for La Fiere Bridge near St. Mere Eglise, France
We arrived at the park in Conneaut before 9 AM when the raising of the flag signaled the Saturday reenactments of D-Day for the 72nd anniversary remembrance. Thirty thousand people were expected on that day in the small park at the edge of Lake Erie in the small town of Conneaut, Ohio.
As we entered the park, this is what we saw. Tents of the Allied encampment which was setup on Tuesday. There were 1500 volunteers in authentic uniforms Allied, Axis, French resistors and people in 40s civilian clothes. You are struck with the authenticity and seriousness of all involved. There were 200 + WW II veterans and a group of them were honored with medals awarded to them from the French government , Legion d’Honneur. We didn’t see the ceremony because we were quite away from that area and my husband’s back was hurting badly.
Back to our time there. We caught one of the golf carts given by volunteers and the woman suggested we go to the top of the bluff where the Germans were located and their tents set up. From there we could look down on the beach and walk our way down.
There were groups of scouts of all ages learning from the “living history” of the event.
Axis troops in morning formation with the officers in front. Seeing these “enemy” soldiers was a shock indeed.
The soldiers were authentic even to the four German Shepard dogs. If you look carefully, you can see one lovely dog in the middle of the front row.
This young German soldiers started me as I thought he resembled my brother George.
Here he is with his father , a local photographer complete with a 40s camera. Dad said his son started participating when he was 14 and to be that young, a parent needs to be present so he got in the spirit of the 40s with clothing and camera.
Next, we went to the beach, stood in line with Eagle Scouts this time to ride for free in one of these landing boats. The sailors told the passengers that the wake was bout 1 foot this day but on the D-Day attack, there was a storm, 6 foot wake, a 3-4 hour wait, a raging storm. . . .all in the dark. There is a quote from a German who was on the bluff above saying how impressed he was the soldiers didn’t balk especially when they landed to fire from above and dead bodies and bloody water on the beach. He said how well trained they were as soldiers. ” There was no charge for the boat rides or any reenactment . There are people with buckets to take donations but no pressure is given at all, the whole day.
From the beach we headed to Le Fiere Bridge battle reenactment.
This is the small, almost a pedestrian bridge, the spot where my brother fought, courageously was wounded, and died after being evacuated. Later he was awarded a Bronze Star for bravery. We sat on the side of the hill with a good view of the fighting. There were French resisters, Allied and German soldiers involved. We both were overcome with the emotion of it all.
Here were scouts resting on the wall of one side of the bridge when we approached. This was one of the important battles of the invasion due to logistics and I think it lasted for 3 days. There were small tanks involved as well.
It was hours until the Normandy Invasion and David was in such pain. We left but on the way to the free buses, we stopped and listened to one of the reenactors described the gear with which the parachutists jumped.
For those of you who would like to see the reenactment, I am leaving it here. The one from 2016 was not available yet. This was the one I thought was the best.
Many thanks to Eric Montgomery and many other volunteers who make this living history museum come alive for all who visited. The dates are already posted for 2017, August 18-19 and I would encourage you to attend. We hope to return next year with our family. What an interesting and touching way to experience history.
https://www.facebook.com/stealth7usa Eric’s Facebook address.
TalesAlongTheWay 
They did an outstanding job, Anne! Guns going off, the men yelling, enemy reinforcements arriving and finally the white flag.
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I am not sure how far you are from there but I know you would love it for next year. We have never gone to a reenactment, but I would love to visit Gettysburg during the reenactment of the three day battle there early in July. Thank you for all your work sharing and teaching history ! Blessings!
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According to Google, I am 1230 miles away – we’ll have to see next year I’m afraid.
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Whew, that is far!
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Oh just a hop, skip, and jump!!
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Yup – down the road a piece….
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So glad you liked it!
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Anne – the top link, http://www.DDAYOHIO.US is unresponsive, and the other one is broken. Please check on them.
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Thanks for letting me know of problems. I want posts to be readable! Smiles!
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Weird – copying it in my comment, and clicking on it, It does work
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Technology is all a mystery to me!
https://talesalongtheway.com/2016/08/28/d-day-conneaut-2016/
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This was a wonderful living history experience for us. I would recommend it highly. I hope we can take the grandchildren next year!
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This reinactment belies both the difficulty, and danger our troops faced taking that bridge.
I was trying to find more information on this action, particularly on your brother and the 82nd.
It evaded me; what i did find was contained at these links:
http://smallwarsjournal.com/print/12774
http://www.travelfranceonline.com/la-fiere-memorial-park-and-battle-wwii/
Over 200 men had died by June 10th taking that bridge, and over 300 wounded. The Germans had flooded the land around it making access very limited, and their strength had been grossly underestimated by the brass.
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Thanks so much for the links. Have
you been to Normandy? It is as if you are walking on sacred ground. This is the rooster of my brother’s last jump, 2:38 in the morning of June 6th. He is #2 George Tullidge
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Just a survivor; never had what is quaintly called “discretionary income”.
No vacations per se.
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A survivor of D-Day? I think there are groups who raise money for veterans to return to places of battle.
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NO. A survivor of this amoral world. Professed Christian. Subsistence wages. Survivor of employment that until recently denied me my right to worship on His day. A fed up, 64 yr old boomer.
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You are a Christian Soldier! I am a Christian, too. You have suffered for Christ. My life has been easier. I am glad you now can worship on His day. I hope you have not given up and won’t vote. Choices not good but it is an important right and responsibility. Well I think so anyway. Onward Christian Soldier!
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If you don’t mind sending me your email address , I will send you the “stick” or plane schedule to parachute into Normandy. My email is anne.t.bell@gmail.com
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I voted early. Work is threatening to deprive me of the right to worship on His day. That remains to be seen.
I cannot envision an America with Hitlery at the helm. Unthinkable, what will occur if -because of CA’s 55 electoral votes- we lose this last stand to stop the tailspin America is in.
This video is dated ; I created it and it was posted just prior to the last elections ( Nov 5, 2012) which we lost. We cannot lose this time. A miracle is needed, enough voters in CA that are fed up regardless of party affiliation to make that liberal state turn red in this election.
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I tried to copy and paste into YouTube.com but couldn’t tell which was your video. We agree on the election.
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FYI – I am no longer affiliated with Patriot Action Network.
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I don’t know what the Patriot Action Network is, anyway.
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The Google beast owns YouTube; I haven’t submitted anything there for some time. You can see other uploads I made there at this URL:
https://www.youtube.com/user/1ProfessorXavier
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Though I agree on much that was there, I guess I am not quite so urgent, but maybe I should be. I do feel that our country is at a crossroad and slipping away from the country when we were growing up!
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May He remove the veil from American eyes –
https://partneringwitheagles.wordpress.com/2014/01/06/hitler-survivor-tells-americans-buy-more-guns/
https://partneringwitheagles.wordpress.com/2014/12/22/the-terrifying-future-of-the-united-states-the-ndaa-explained-in-3-minutes/
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I keep thinking about the scripture that says “the people get the leader they deserve!”
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