Omaha Beach Cemetery and Museum, Normandy.

Back to the Cemetery...... here is an interesting Grave from a senior Officer;-

"The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pride in presenting the Silver Star (Posthumously) to Lieutenant Colonel (Field Artillery) James Alexander Costain (ASN: 0-19423), United States Army, for gallantry in action against the enemy in northern France as Commanding Officer, 915th Field Artillery Battalion, 90th Infantry Division. On 15 June 1944 the 915th Field Artillery Battalion commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Costain was in direct support of the ** Infantry. Two assault companies were cut off from the remainder of the Battalion and had no communications, consequently no artillery support. Colonel Costain realized that if the assault companies were to receive artillery support, communications must be reestablished and the location of German machine guns holding up the flank be determined. He therefore, and with no concern for his own safety, organized and led a patrol forward. The patrol was shortly pinned to the ground by enemy fire and a friendly machine gun covering his advance was destroyed. Colonel Costain with the utmost bravery returned the fire of the enemy machine gun in an effort to silence it. He continued to fire until his ammunition was exhausted. At this time he was mortally wounded by enemy fire"

General Orders: Headquarters, 90th Infantry Division, General Orders No. 20 (June 29, 1944)

Action Date: June 15, 1944

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One of the most notable burials is that of Theodore Roosevelt Jr. the son of President Teddy Roosevelt.

Roosevelt was the only general officer on D-Day to land by sea with the first wave of troops. At 56, he was the oldest man in the invasion.

When Major General Barton, the commander of the 4th Infantry Division, came ashore, he met Roosevelt not far from the beach. He later wrote:

While I was mentally framing [orders], Ted Roosevelt came up. He had landed with the first wave, had put my troops across the beach, and had a perfect picture (just as Roosevelt had earlier promised if allowed to go ashore with the first wave) of the entire situation. I loved Ted. When I finally agreed to his landing with the first wave, I felt sure he would be killed. When I had bade him goodbye, I never expected to see him alive. You can imagine then the emotion with which I greeted him when he came out to meet me [near La Grande Dune]. He was bursting with information.

Roosevelt suffered from health problems. He had arthritis, mostly from old World War I injuries, and walked with a cane. He also had heart trouble, which he kept secret from army doctors and his superiors.

On July 12, 1944, a little over one month after the landing at Utah, Roosevelt died of a heart attack in Meautis, 22 km from Sainte-Mere-Eglise in Normandy. He was living at the time in a converted sleeping truck, captured a few days before from the Germans. He had spent part of the day in a long conversation with his son, Captain Quentin Roosevelt II, who had also landed at Normandy on D-Day.

 

Lesley J McNair, U.S. Army general, one of the two highest-ranking Americans to be killed in action in World War II.

He was killed in his foxhole July 25, 1944 near Saint-Lo during Operation Cobra, by an errant aerial bomb dropped during a pre-attack bombardment by heavy strategic bombers of the 8th Air Force.

 

Here are some images of the memorial and the huge battle plans of the Invasion Beaches and the later Break-Out Operations.

 

A few random images to finish off with!