Wednesday June 20th

Another Birthday Wish to Deb - Hope your graduation parties went well and you can start to relax and enjoy the summer!

Our trip to Cambridge American Cemetery was pretty impressive. The soldiers buried here are very well honored - it made us all very humbled and proud to see how well this piece of America here in England is maintained.

Grand Papa's father Paul was killed with 750 others in England while preparing for the Normandy Invasion. It was two hours after midnight on 28 April, 1944. Since the moon had just gone down, visibility was fair. The sea was calm.

A few hours earlier, in daylight, assault forces of the U S 4th Infantry Division had gone ashore on Slapton Sands, a stretch of beach along the south coast of England that closely resembled a beach on the French coast of Normandy, code-named Utah, where a few weeks later U.S. troops were to storm ashore as part of history's largest and most portentous amphibious assault: D-Day

The assault at Slapton Sands was known as Exercise Tiger, one of several rehearsals conducted in preparation for the momentous invasion to come. So vital was the exercise of accustoming the troops to the combat conditions they were soon to face that commanders had ordered the use of live naval and artillery fire, which could be employed because British civilians had long ago been relocated from the region around Slapton Sands. Individual soldiers also had live ammunition for their rifles and machine guns.

In those early hours of 28 April off the south coast in Lyme Bay, a flotilla of eight LSTs (landing ship, tank) was plowing toward Slapton Sands, transporting a follow-up force of engineers and chemical and quartermaster troops not scheduled for assault but to be unloaded in an orderly fashion along with trucks, amphibious trucks, jeeps, and heavy engineering equipment.

Out of the darkness, nine swift German torpedo boats suddenly appeared. On routine patrol out of the French port of Cherbourg, the commanders had learned of heavy radio traffic in Lyme Bay. Ordered to investigate, they were amazed to see what they took to be a flotilla of eight destroyers. They hastened to attack.

German torpedoes hit three of the LSTs. One lost its stern but eventually limped into port. Another burst into flames, the fire fed by gasoline in the vehicles aboard. A third keeled over and sank within six minutes.

There was little time for launching lifeboats. Trapped belowdecks, hundreds of soldiers and sailors went down with the ships. Others leaped into the sea, but many soon drowned, weighted down by water-logged overcoats and in some cases pitched forward into the water because they were wearing life belts around their waists rather than under their armpits. Others succumbed to hypothermia in the cold water.

When the waters of the English Channel, at last, ceased to wash bloated bodies ashore, the toll of the dead and missing stood at 198 sailors and 551 soldiers, a total of 749, the most costly training incident involving U.S. forces during World War II.

Pretty sobering stuff. Papa and his family never knew exactly what happened to his brother.

We then went to explore the beauty of Cambridge University. We had lunch at a pub (fish and chips of course) and then went punting on the Cam river to see the architecturally beautiful colleges of Cambridge - among the 33 colleges, a college founded by Henry VI and a library built by Sir Christopher Wren - the architect who built St Paul's Cathedral in London..amazing and a must-visit spot for those coming from the US..

On a lighter note, on Monday night Mimi and Papa and I went to see Les Miserables..excellent seats to an amazing show.

Mimi and Papa have spent lots of time with the girls at their schools but managed to see the Westminster Abbey and Churchhill War Museum yesterday as well.

Today we are off to Windsor to see the castle and town..

Carla and Paulo arrive tomorrow and the girls can't wait to see them!! (me too!)

Love and kisses - have a great day!
Amy