UK Buell Enthusiasts Group @ D-Day 80th Anniversary Normandy, June 2024.

Accommodation (5 nights) Tuesday 4th to Sunday 9th June: 

Hôtel de La Croix de Malte

5 Rue des Halles

50100 Cherbourg en Cotentin

France

Hotel website: http://www.hotelcroixmalte.com/en  

Official D-Day 80 website: https://en.normandie-tourisme.fr/highlight/80th-anniversary-of-d-day  

Event report 14th June:

A record numbers of visitors attended the D-Day 80th Anniversary week in Normandy. The staff at various Tourist Offices all commented that they were surprised by how busy it was and how many people had come over from the USA and Canada.

The whole period was blessed with dry sunny weather and all the events, both official and unofficial, were well attended.

We attended the D-Day 70th Anniversary in 2014 and based ourselves near the British and Canadian beaches, Sword, Juno and Gold. For this year’s events we wanted to concentrate on the American beaches, Utah and Omaha. As expected, Cherbourg proved an ideal base for exploring these areas.

There were hundreds of motorcycles from all over Europe and Scandinavia in Normandy for the 80th Anniversary. Moto Guzzis were thin on the ground. We spotted 3 V85TT’s, a V7 Stone, a 1400 California, a V100 Mandello and a V100 Stelvio. We didn’t see a single Buell.

Large numbers of French police motorcyclists were on the roads during the week. They were very busy keeping main intersections flowing and escorting various VIP’s around. During one visit to Utah Beach a group of 12 police motorcyclists parked up for lunch. Jane asked if they would mind posing for a group photo with her and they kindly agreed.

The sheer scale of the effort that went into the Allied landings takes some understanding. The various memorials commemorating the American losses on the 6th June 1944 and during the subsequent Battle of Normandy made for sobering reading.

A visit to the American Military Cemetery above Omaha Beach is a must when in the area. A key memorial site, it contains the perfectly aligned headstones of 9,387 soldiers who fell in combat. There’s also a Garden of the Missing where the names of 1,557 soldiers are engraved. The American Battle Monuments Commission visitor centre is well worth a visit.

We had plenty of time to visit all the D-Day related museums in the area. A lot of the displays show personal stories of many of the combatants. The modern immersive presentations allow visitors to better understand the relevant history, from preparations for D-Day through to the liberation of Paris. The role of the French Resistance is also well documented. Some 22,000 French citizens were killed during the Battle of Normandy. A factor that is often overlooked.

Although some of the roads and attractions were very busy, we are glad we went. It was a terrific experience, and we learned a lot more about the American involvement in D-Day and their liberation of Cherbourg in particular.