'Americans' in Camouflage

To be sure, this had to have been some of our most unusual days so far; we're so glad that Thomas shared them with us! To make a long, unbelievable story 'short' - and to get you to the pictures asap - let me just say that the middle portion of our WW2 celebration days in Normandy were spent with seven very generous Norwegians who graciously offered to let us tour around with them in their two vintage, army-green vehicles! Did I say that they, like what seemed to be 50% of the population around us, were dressed in American uniforms? The jeep that Thomas got to ride in, by the way, is a 1942 model and the Opel staff car is a 1934. (Ken, Marijke and I got to squeeze into that!)
By the way, both of our drivers had taken days to get to Normandy from Norway via numerous ferries and extra slow speeds on back roads. They made such an effort - as did various other groups (we never saw so many US soldiers who couldn't speak English before in all our lives!) They must have planned for this trip for a year or more!
It might be best to let you go to a link again; hey, maybe I'll send you to a couple of albums so that you can see the days before and after as well. To all my patriotic fans (whether you be American, Canadian, British, French - or Norwegian): go ahead and hang out your flags 'cause it's a great time to remember the liberation of Europe...
P.S. I like to think I was a little instrumental in the making of the acquaintance of these new friends. Ken and Thomas were engaged in conversation at their campsite but I was the one who suggested that it might be nice to have a cup of coffee together. Little did we know that they would bring out the camp cups and that we'd be sharing our dutch koek with them!









http://photobucket.com/June5-09

http://photobucket.com/June6-09

http://photobucket.com/June7-09

A few final shots that I can also send via email, if you like, Guys. Maybe I should get copies and send them up to you via Thomas - he sure would like to see your part of the world (but it might be a bit far for him in the couple of weeks that he has left?)



What a day. Thanks so very much for this grand memory, Hans & Svein, Mona & Martin, Grethe, Oda & Simen. Oh - lunch was a great idea, too - wish the camera card hadn't been full at that point. (I'll admit: I'm not always the smartest bear in the woods! But I am loveable - Teddy)