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Beyond the Beaches of Normandy
By Sara Jones, Response Services, American Red Cross
Friday, May 11, 2007 — I was born in the United States after my parents emigrated from England, so I didn't spend much time with my extended family while growing up. I've listened to my father and mother share stories of the bombing of London and Coventry, and I've seen pictures of my grandmother's "victory garden." But I can only imagine what the experience was like for my grandmother, who was then in her prime. I never had the benefit of hearing a first-hand account of World War II from her.
Mary Lou Chapman, Ginny Hannum, Jane Hardy, Mary O'Driscoll, Christine Sleeper, and Marge Gulley honor the Red Cross women and men who served in WWII.
Photo courtesy of ARCOA taken by Christopher P. Vlk, Clipgloss Productions, LLC.
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This week and next, I hope to hear several—not from my grandmother, but from women of her generation who not only survived the war, but played a vital role in it.
I am sitting this morning in the city of Caen, the capital of the Lower-Normandy region, with an entourage of women in their eighties and nineties who served in the American Red Cross during World War II. It is the second day of what will be an 11-day journey back to the beaches of Normandy, planned and coordinated by the American Red Cross Overseas Association (ARCOA).
The trip offers these women an opportunity to retrace their steps, to touch the soil they once walked, to lay wreaths on familiar graves, and to reconnect with memories both joyful and sad. As they travel the roads and revisit the villages they saw Allied troops liberate more than 60 years ago, those of us who have the distinct privilege of accompanying them on this journey—their sons, daughters, grandchildren and even great-grandchildren, plus a few Red Crossers—will get to learn, through their stories, just how much they mattered to the military effort in Europe.
It is well known that on June 6, 1944, hundreds of thousands of Allied troops landed on the beaches in Normandy. It is not so well known that dozens of "Red Cross girls" followed right behind them and, within 14 days of their landing, had set up a service center and were offering refreshments to the troops. At a time when women were not allowed in military service, some 5,600 of them, all wearing Red Cross insignia, supported front-line troops—sometimes from a distance of no more than a few hundred yards—with impressive tenacity and spirit.
On this journey, we will travel from Bayeux, the first French city liberated in the D-Day invasion, to Colleville-sur-mer, Omaha and Utah Beaches, Metz, Verdun, and, of course, Paris. As we make this journey, we will pay our respects at the gravesites of Red Crossers and servicemen lost in battle. We will visit the museums and memorials built to mark what happened here. We will also contribute, to museums and most significantly to the mayor of Verdun, an oral documentary of these women, marking in history their contributions during World War II. This oral history will also be shared with the Smithsonian Institution and the American Red Cross archives.
It's time to begin our journey. Off we go, beyond the beaches of Normandy. It promises to be a journey of a lifetime.
The American Red Cross helps people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies. Last year, almost a million volunteers and 35,000 employees helped victims of almost 75,000 disasters; taught lifesaving skills to millions; and helped U.S. service members separated from their families stay connected. Almost 4 million people gave blood through the Red Cross, the largest supplier of blood and blood products in the United States. The American Red Cross is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. An average of 91 cents of every dollar the Red Cross spends is invested in humanitarian services and programs. The Red Cross is not a government agency; it relies on donations of time, money, and blood to do its work.
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