Friday Sept 17th

Hi everyone, We had another busy day. After breakfast we went to Ardenne Abbey just outside of Caen where SS Colonel Kut Meyer had 11 captured Canadian soldiers of the North Nova Scotia Highlanders and the 27th Canadian Armoured Regiment shot and killed  by firing squad. We had a two hour talk by Monsieur Vicon who was a French Resistance fighter in Caen when the executions took place. He gave us the history of the Abbey which was occupied since 5000BC. He then told us through and interpreter about the events on June 7 1944 when the executions took place. He and his group actually smuggled the amunition and weapons out of the Abbey on June 5th the day before the Germans occupied it. This man is amazing, he is 87 years old but would pass easily for 65. He talked about all the events on Dday as well as the events before and after. I will post pictures later. Next we went to the Pegasus Bridge where British paratroopers landed on the night of June 5th and took over the bridge. Lord Lovat was piped over the bridge by Bill Mullin his own personal piper after the bridge was secured but under gunfire from the Germans. Then we went to Honfleur which is a really neat town. It suffered no damage in the war and has lots of old buildings and cobbled streets. There is also a big cathederal which was built by shipbuilders out of wooden beams. It is shaped like two boats upside down attached in the middle. We then went to the Canadian Cemetary near Dieppe where 707 of the 913 soldiers killed on August 19th 1942 are buried. This was the day that everything went wrong. They say the lessons learned that day helped with the planning for Normandy invasion in 1944. We went next to Dieppe beach and walked on the beach and though a bit of the town. The beach is all gravel rocks about 2 to 3 inches in diameter. This was one of the problems the Canadians had that day as many of their tanks got stuck in the rocks as they are about 8 feet deep and move around even when you walk on them. If PEI had just this one beach we would never need to import gravel again. Tonight we are staying in a small resort town Saint-Valery-En-Caux. I have never seen so many boats in one place in my life. There must be about 300 sailboats and pleasure boats in the harbour.. We went out to a French Restaurant with 3 other couples. Some of us didn't know what we were ordering but it was all very good. Hopefully I will download pictures tonight and have Wifi tomorrow for that report.