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[DragonSpeed]

I'm back from my Europe/England Vacation.  I have just finished writing up the blog about the trip (warning - lots of reading)  If you're intested, settle down with the laptop by the trout pond and toss out the bobber and worm while reading

http://dragonspeed.wordpress.com/2008/06/23/all-europe-2008-trip-posts/

I'm looking to get out for my first trout outing of 2008 on July 1 (Sad isn't it?).  Any suggestions? (small inflatable boat, flies.)  Will the lakes around Harrison be more productive later due to the colder spring?

[Every Day]

What lakes around Harrison, me and my friend went up to on yesterday and landed at least 15 each.... hooked and missed ALOT more than that, fish are jumping everywhere like crazy and taking almost any dry fly off the top of the water. I guess e-mail me if you want the lake, since I can't PM   

[newsman]

Hey Dragon at my day job I work with some real top notch anglers ( I wont even fish with these guys cause they make me look that bad). The best producers as far this year, from what I have heard: (localy) Alouette (Thompson region) Knuff, (Cariboo) Dragon. We are talking big numbers and big fish!

[clarki]

I enjoyed reading your blog Brian, particularly of your time in France in the Caen area. I am a WWII history buff so in our worldwind tour of France in August 2006 we visited many of the same sites that you did: Juno, Omaha, both cemetaries, Longues, Ste. Mere Eglise, Vimy. We did alot of other cemetaries as well: there's a very large German one near Avranches, a Canadian one south of Caen where I found the grave of a co-workers uncle that no one from the family had seen, and another Canadian one in NL near Groesbeek.

We also visited Beaumont Hamel in northern France, not to far from Vimy. A piece of Canadian Newfoundland Regiment history that I was unaware of until a month before our trip.   

We also had dinner one night at the La Fiere bridge not far from St Mere Eglise. I was oblivious to the D Day history of that locale too. Since then I devoured a book by Ruggero that devoted a significant amount of text to the action at that bridge. Fascinating stuff.   

We had too short a time in France and my wife and I long to go back. We're still savouring our small bottle of Calvados!

Our blog: http://gid-the-kid-and-mojo.blogspot.com/       

[Athezone]

Welcome Back DS. and good luck on your first trout outing this year. First!!!!

[DragonSpeed]

Welcome Back DS. and good luck on your first trout outing this year. First!!!!

Thanks ATZ.  Man it's been tough finding even one day to fish these days 

[Rodney]

Is there another discussion forum that lets the moderator to go on a three-week holiday?

[DragonSpeed]

I enjoyed reading your blog Brian, particularly of your time in France in the Caen area. I am a WWII history buff so in our worldwind tour of France in August 2006 we visited many of the same sites that you did: Juno, Omaha, both cemetaries, Longues, Ste. Mere Eglise, Vimy. We did alot of other cemetaries as well: there's a very large German one near Avranches, a Canadian one south of Caen where I found the grave of a co-workers uncle that no one from the family had seen, and another Canadian one in NL near Groesbeek.

We passed on the Canadian one south of Caen, but it was on the optional list.  Sooo much history and so many important sites in the area.  To truly do a war history tour justice in the area would be 3 full days.

The German cemetery is at La Cambe.  More than 2x the number of dead than the American cemetery, but with much less visitors or recognition.

Complete list of Normandy Cemeteries: http://www.normandie44lamemoire.com/versionanglaise/cimetieresus/lescimetieresus.html

We had too short a time in France and my wife and I long to go back. We're still savouring our small bottle of Calvados!

We drank local cider and good, cheap red wine while there.  I had no alcohol room left in what I was bringing home - we had our Scotch from Scotland

Salut!

[DragonSpeed]

Is there another discussion forum that lets the moderator to go on a three-week holiday?

Truly the most reasonable working conditions I've had in a while

[clarki]

The German cemetery is at La Cambe.  More than 2x the number of dead than the American cemetery, but with much less visitors or recognition.

Yes, we visitted La Cambe as well as the german cemetery in the south of Normandy at Huisnes-Sur-Mer, near Avranches and within site of Mont St Michel.

We toured France with my in-laws. My father in law is Dutch and spent the war in German occupied Amsterdam. As result it was difficult for him to visit the first cemetery that we went to at La Cambe. His memories of the war are still very fresh.

The cemetery at Huisnes-Sur-Mer is unique as it is a built above ground on a hill and the remains are entombed in large crypts. My mother in law had a hard time at this one; her comment was that it didn't seem right that our boys were buried underground and Geman dead had almost a place of honour.

Maybe you saw the little poppies and wooden crosses that the Brits leave a war memorials. I saw one tucked behind the name plate of german soldier's crypt. It said simply "In memory of German sons from English parents" That spoke volumes.

I could go on and on...

Cheers.         

[DragonSpeed]

The German cemetery is at La Cambe.  More than 2x the number of dead than the American cemetery, but with much less visitors or recognition.

Yes, we visitted La Cambe as well as the german cemetery in the south of Normandy at Huisnes-Sur-Mer, near Avranches and within site of Mont St Michel.

Unforntunately due to time limitations, I didn't get down to the Mont St. Michel area

The cemetery at Huisnes-Sur-Mer is unique as it is a built above ground on a hill and the remains are entombed in large crypts. My mother in law had a hard time at this one; her comment was that it didn't seem right that our boys were buried underground and Geman dead had almost a place of honour.

I can see that many people probably have a hard time with the idea of honoring the German dead.  I thought about it myself and that's why I made a point of visiting the German cemetery.  99% of those soldiers were just scared young men that were trying to stay alive.  They had to kill the enemy before he killed them.  I'm quite sure that they fought with as much valor as many allied soldiers.  In my mind they deserve remembrance as well.  The regime and some of its high ranking officers on the other hand.....

Maybe you saw the little poppies and wooden crosses that the Brits leave a war memorials. I saw one tucked behind the name plate of german soldier's crypt. It said simply "In memory of German sons from English parents" That spoke volumes.

I could go on and on...

Yes, it's easy to go on about it.  It's quite a moving visit.

[dennisK]

you splurged on an "L" lens; you madman lol...

worth it?

[DragonSpeed]

you splurged on an "L" lens; you madman lol...

worth it?

Yup   Click on the picture below for the really amazing view.

[troutbreath]

The clarity is really something else. The water drops are almost real and your relection from the birds eye is wunderbarste.

[clarki]

I can see that many people probably have a hard time with the idea of honoring the German dead.  I thought about it myself and that's why I made a point of visiting the German cemetery.  99% of those soldiers were just scared young men that were trying to stay alive.  They had to kill the enemy before he killed them.  I'm quite sure that they fought with as much valor as many allied soldiers.  In my mind they deserve remembrance as well.  The regime and some of its high ranking officers on the other hand.....

 
Young men, and older men. As the war dragged on, many at either end of the spectrum were pressed into service. At the German war cemetery at LaCambe we saw several graves of boys in their late teens. At the other cemetery in the south of Normandy we saw crypts of soldiers who were in the their 40’s or 50’s.  Not many folks know that some of the soldiers that manned the defenses of the Atlantic Wall to repel an invasion were not German at all. Many were prisoners (Polish, Russian) pressed into service at gunpoint. They were members of Ost Battalions. Their only options: survival, being killed by the attacking Allies or being killed by the German officer overseeing their unit.

Don’t necessarily agree with all of your statement. What you say is generally true of the German Army, the Wermacht. Typically these soldiers were not hard core Nazis and were fighting for their country, family and honour, not an ideology. However the Waffen SS were fanatical and brutal. During the fighting near Juno Beach the SS executed more than 60 Canadian wounded and prisoners. In the town of Authie there is a street named “Place des 37 Canadiens” honouring the 37 Canadians murdered by the 12th SS on June 7. The 12th SS Panzer Divison was a Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth) unit.

The Canadians faced two SS Panzer Divisions in the Juno Beach sector. Other sectors had tanks, but not as many, and not SS. Montgomery’s strategy was for the Canadian’s to engage and hold the panzers so that the American’s further west at Omaha and Utah beaches could break out of the beachhead and hook around. The Canadian Shermans were no match for the German Panthers and Tigers and the Candians were severely bloodied, but they did their job.

I can recommend Mark Zuehlke’s two books “Juno” and “Holding Juno”. Zuehlke is a Victoria writer and is Canada’s pre-eminent military historian. Both books are fascinating reads.