D-day, Then and Now: A wonderful and emotional visit to Normandy, 1944 - 2024 [HD]

Last month my wife and I visited the D-day area in Normandy. This video captures the highlights of our visit in the form of then and now: historic 1944 footage versus present day 2024 footage.
The following locations were visited and compared to June 1944:
The German Gun battery at Longues sur Mer
The famous house at Juno beach, filmed by sergeant Bill Grant
Canada house at Juno beach: Bernières sur Mer
The old station at Bernière sur Mer
Remnants of tank tracks at Bernière sur Mer
Arromanche and the Mulberry harbour
The emotional British Normandy Memorial near Ver sur Mer
The "Standing with Giants" project at this memorial
The British cemetery at Bayeux
The Pegasus bridge at Ranville, famous for its capture with gliders
The Memorial Pegasus Museum with a replica of a Horsa glider
The famous Pegasus bridge café owned by the Gondré family
Colville sur Mer and its church, destroyed during WW-II
The American war cemetery at Colville sur Mer and Omaha beach
The German Gun battery at Pointe du Hoc.
Highlight of this film to my opinion is the emotional "Standing with Giants" display at the British Normandy Memorial.
Before watching this film it is recommended to first watch my recent restored and colorized video about D-day, related to its 80th commemoration: • Spectacular D-day in s...

[@Wyattinous]

Without these cameramen, taking time to capture footage of what was going on in front of them, we would never be able to see the real deal of this war unfolding. We watch documentaries and theatrical movies about this war, but these men are living through all of it in this moment. Thank you for taking the time to bring these into the present Rick 🇺🇸❤🇬🇧

[@LadyBlanche.888]

Walking back in time with them for evermore in our hearts. We will not forget them.. ❤ ❤ ❤

[@drmarkintexas-400]

❤️‍🩹🙏🎖️🏆⭐ Thank you for sharing this

[@bettyh.3656]

Dear Rick, many many thanks for your video. Every time I watch somethink loke that, I think of my grandfother- in 1944 he had been suffering in the Nazi concentration camps for the five years . He was one of the best strong current expert in Czechoslovakia . So he was arrested and pushed to work for the war german industry. Thanks to all those herous he survived. In April 1945 walking the daeth march from Mauthausen yet, the US army soldiers came in time and he could returne to his loved wife and to my uncle and my father. It was necessery to stay in Hamburk for 3 months for recovery , tall man 54kg only. We must keep the memory to all heroes. ❤Take care and have many many next days in good health. Betty H., the Czech Republic

[@billvandenbosch3017]

Bedankt Memory lane, visited there a few years ago with my older brother. We are both war buffs, sadly he is gone now. Thanks for the memories

[@kaycox5555]

FANTASTIC film, thank you for sharing with us all.

[@chathamdogend4461]

I had the honour to attend the 80th anniversary of D Day at Bayeux, a poignant and unforgettable experience.

[@Capt_OscarMike]

Thank you for sharing. Although the saying may be a cliché, it is undeniably true: the world must never forget. I pray that God grants me the time and means to visit Normandy. I have longed to walk in the footsteps of giants-young men who, without hesitation or reservation, rushed to serve and do whatever was needed, whatever they were told. They did so out of love for their country, their home, their culture, their lineage. God bless them all. I pray that each one knows that even in today's chaotic world, there are still people who hold the utmost respect and reverence for them, who will always be mindful and grateful. We must never forget.

[@W7DSY]

I hope you make it. We did it with the help of our kids. Worth every dime.

[@Yorkshire321]

Great! This is the best and most accurate coverage I’ve seen so far 10/10 .

[@Connectdots2222]

Excelente video!

[@jbsanders826]

Thank you for making all the videos you have done. I hope these videos never end. I do not believe we will see a warfare like this ever again and its important the world does not forget what this kind of war looks like. There will never be such a strong, disciplined and hardworking generation like this.

[@scotiajinker8392]

Thanks for sharing, it’s been many years since we did the tour of the battle fields & visited 99% of what you did. It’s mind blowing what both sides went through in such a small area.

[@Rick88888888]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@gravelbikemark]

Thanks Rick, Me and a mate cycled there last year loved it (we are both veterans of Bosnia, Iraq and Afghan) I am taking my 3 boys there in a few weeks and then some more veterans back there next year (cycling) finishing at the memoirial on the 6th.

[@SamanthaN92]

This was a beautiful tribute. Thank you for sharing 💕

[@Rick88888888]

Thank you so much!

[@wtfbuddy1]

Great video Rick, thank you for the walk around and history of your visit, it was personalized and heart felt, truly enjoyed the then and now. Cheers and take care

[@Rick88888888]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@davidlenabour1411]

Merci Rick pour ce très beau reportage. I hope you enjoyed your trip in our country!

[@Rick88888888]

Indeed, it was a great trip. France is a great country. We went on to the UK via Jersey and Guernsey.

[@brunoterlingen2203]

You have excelled, again Rick. Bloody good job putting things in perspective.

[@Rick88888888]

Thank you kindly

[@LandOverview]

That was a war with no doubts as to why and what you were fighting for, but these days not so anymore. Europe is full of artifacts from that time, have visited a few places and when I was younger the war was not so long ago and heard a lot of stories from relatives that have since died. Good that you take the time to enchance this old footage.

[@metegokce697]

Thank you for the interesting video.

[@Cinarli1979]

5:31 İşte bu ayrıntıları ben oraya gittiğimde kaçırdım! Çok güzel. Gelecek keze!

[@maartendezwaan9715]

Hartelijk dank voor de mooie en interessante video!

[@Rick88888888]

Graag gedaan!

[@Cinarli1979]

2023 Yılında ben de Normandiya'yı gezdim. Omaha Beach ile öteki yerler gerçekten ilginçti. Ancak sizin vidyonuzda sözü edilen bir sürü ayrıntıyı atlamışım. İlginç.

[@metegokce697]

Ben de...

[@jelleamsterdam6066]

mooie video weer Rick

[@mgcarr61camaro91]

Thanks for sharing !🇨🇦 my Grandpa was a Sargent in a tank division during ww2

[@logsmyob8267]

Thank you Rick, i thoroughly enjoyed that, me and my sisters are so thnkful that our father survived the war at the casseno in Italy right up to end of the ww2, otherwise i wouldnt be here today, althouugh i was born 15 years after the war ended... i would loved to go there one day.... cheers... And we must never forget about those who never made it back to thier homeland, in our case to NZ

[@mirola73]

And us humans haven't learnt a thing since that time, wars are still raging in various places......................

[@Rick88888888]

Music: "I Vow To Thee My Country"

[@southernflairphoto]

I believe the body of water the Pegasus Bridge spans is the Caen Canal, not the river Orne, which is less than a mile inward from Pegasus.

[@Rick88888888]

Wrong! It is the Orne. See: www.google.nl/maps/place/Pegasusbrug,+14860+Ranville,+Frankrijk/@49.2402205,-0.2693899,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x480a667c30c12c21:0x3a7583f1f4863dbc!8m2!3d49.240217!4d-0.266815!16zL20vMDF3eXpm

[@daviddeaton1575]

❤ Imagine all the young men killed here and most of the families never got to go there to see their grave sites 😢 Truly the greastest generation of are life time

[@jukkavirtanen1918]

Bad old days.

[@Ricky_Mason]

Going there from Canada in 5 weeks.

[@Rick88888888]

You'll enjoy it! By all means go and see the "Standing with Giants" project at the British memorial at Ver sur Mer.

[@Ricky_Mason]

@@Rick88888888 Will do. Two years ago we visited Vimy Ridge with our 2 teens. Thank you for the video.

[@autoguy57]

I’ll never forget the story about an American entering France years after the war and he didn’t know he needed a passport. The French agent asked how stupid he was not to know about passports, the American answered, “Sir last time I was here they didn’t ask for my passport.” The Agent said “Impossible!” The American answered “I came ashore on Omaha Beach on D-Day, no one asked me for my passport then!”

[@JEANAIMARE-kc1vd]

Reality is less beautiful, you know. 80 years after WW2, many people still ignore that France, after Germany, had been the second most bombed country in Western Europe, with 518,000 tons of bombs dropped in 5 years, and with almost 70,000 civilians killed, in dozens of cities razed to the ground, often in useless raids. And not only Normandy, but in the whole of France. For example, in Normandy, there were more French civilians killed than US troops KIA. Reconstruction lasted about twenty years in many places. For the French at the time, war was a real thing, unlike US public who know it only in movie theaters.

[@GunnersRange]

@@JEANAIMARE-kc1vd The alternative was France could have opted to stay under German rule....which would have saved tens of thousands of American lives, in addition to the French lives, the billions of dollars the US spent to rebuild Europe under the Marshall Plan, AND you'd be speaking German today.

[@JEANKOURAGE]

@@GunnersRange Again the same boring comments. You will be able to talk of wars, when you will experience a real one near you, not watching Saving Ryan stuff in movie theaters. French WW2 losses, 600000, military and civilians, were higher than ALL US losses of this war, on all fronts, not even 420000. And the ones who saved Europe were Soviets, even, if they were crushed at the start, like all Europe was. It's them the real winners. When operations started on western European front, and not only with US troops, but with many other nationalities, including regular French troops, like in sourhern France, 80 % of the Nazi war machine were already destroyed in USSR after 3 years of ferocious fights since 1941. War on the west, even if fightings were often fierce, was almost a tourist trip compared to the Russian bloodbath. Unfortunately, a lot in US are brainwashed and know almost nothing about the true history. On another hand, we understand why you piss off the planet every 5 minutes with WW2. It's virtually the ONLY important military event in your short not even 250 years history. In addition, overseas, as usual. While the French had already experienced at least 1500 years of wars and massacres on their soil, and won alone against entire coalitions more wars and battles than all western nations put together, this, when US were still a desert populated by Native Amerindian nations. Frankly, you look more like mentally retarded persons with this WW2 stuff. It's an obsession only in US. 95 % of current Europeans don't give a damn, because it was almost a century ago. Since, European continent has profoundly changed in all areas. US public is always 90 years behind world reality. And if it was not for the French who saved your pathetic "army" against your English masters, you would still be a part of British empire. Note, too, that the French already speak German for centuries in Alsace, a French province located right on the German border.

[@JEANKOURAGE]

@@GunnersRange kzbin.info/www/bejne/i4bCYWhnetCrnLs

[@JEANKOURAGE]

@@GunnersRange en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_France_during_World_War_II

[@pa4tim]

Those young men were true heros, seeing all your brothers in arms falling dead or wounded and still embarking the vessels knowing there is a very big chance you die.

[@omenelis]

@09:15 the name's bond ... james bond!

[@Rick88888888]

Well spotted!!

[@daviddanino8351]

כישראלי שבע קרבות בארצי ביקרתי פעמיים בחופי הנחיתה בנורמנדי ולא הספקתי לראות כל מה שרציתי ואני מקווה שבריאותי תאשר לי לבקר בפעם השלישית. אי אפשר שלא להעריץ את גבורתם של החיילים שנלחמו שם חלקם יצאו בחיים וחלקם שילמו בחייהם. נוחו בשלום על משכבכם גיבורים.

[@daviddanino8351]

ביקרנו רעייתי ואני פעמיים בחופי הפלישה ברוב האתרים שבתכנית.ואחד האתרים שהרשים אותי והשאיר בי חוויה שלא תישכח לעולם היה בית הקברות האמריקאי בחוף אומהה. לא יכולתנו שלא לחשוב על כפיות הטובה של צרפת במקרים שארה"ב נזקקה לתמיכה בשנות ה 80-90.

[@peo9180]

Great work Rick...History must never be forgotten - and RIP all the brave men who liberated Europe To bad James Bond did not make it kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y3rdg4ljnqqaiaM

[@puertola7186]

When I went there, I was surprised that many houses around the Omaha Beach were flying the US flags. I guess it is convenient after the fact. I heard from the memoirs of the US veterans that, they were not that much welcomed by the French. Because, before the D-Day, local French people were quite profiting from German occupation by selling diary products and other supplies to the occupiers. And when the D-Day came, their houses were damaged (in some cases because German soldiers were using them as shields and in other cases just collateral damages). For example, German snipers were often using the church towers, thus they were the first buildings to be torn down. To cut the long story short, not all of them were "resistance" fighters...

[@Rick88888888]

Currently many British, Canadian and American flags are still flying in Normandy because of the 80th D-day commemmorations. Most "gites" fly many flags.

[@JEANKOURAGE]

" their houses were damaged". For information, during this 3 months battle, there had been more French civilians killed than US troops kia. Mostly by air bombings in dozens cities razed to the ground, often in useless raids. France, after Germany, was the second most bombed country of western Europe, with 518000 tons of bombs dropped in 5 years, and with about 70000 civilians killed. And not only in Normandy, but all over France. Reconstruction took about 20 years in many places.

[@JEANKOURAGE]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_France_during_World_War_II

[@DerekHarrison-d5d]

@@Rick88888888 I’m planning a trip to Normandy soon.I’ve seen so many documentaries and watched movies like SAVING PRIVATE RYAN and THE LONGEST DAY that I MUST see the beaches and visit as much of the area as I can.It’s sad to think that when I was at school,we were NEVER taught anything about D Day,and this was such an important event in human history,because if the allies hadn’t got a toe hold on those beaches,who knows how much longer the war would have dragged on for and how many more lives would have been lost.Thankfully,many children are taught about this event in schools today and visit the battlefields and cemeteries around Western Europe.

[@edwardhayden4626]

Why haven't the Germans removed all the installations they left in France?

[@Rick88888888]

Remember: they got defeated and kicked out of France. The French left many German objects as a reminder of the war: "never again".

[@michelles2299]

I think concrete bunkers are too difficult to dismantle I have a concrete air raid shelter ww2 in my back garden and a builder told me it was too difficult to remove so there it sits and it's only tiny

[@edwardhayden4626]

@@michelles2299 The Germans put them there, they can clean up the mess they made.

[@lexwebster954]

СЛАВА УКРАЇНІ ! 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦

[@pierre-andreguilleuxdephil2517]

lol

[@freedomfreedom6652]

Amen 🙏 Hitler caput 1945 putler caput 2024