D-Day Beach Obstacles.
Much has been written about the obstacles placed by the Germans to obstruct the landings and their role in making the D-Day landings more difficult and more perilous. The obstacles took many forms and some were more effective than others.
The most famous of them all is undoubtedly the Czech Hedgehog, which was liberally deployed along the Atlantic Wall. Many of these obstacles remain around Normandy, Brittany and the Atlantic coast; Hedgehogs, Belgian Gates and Pyramids to name a few. But what did they actually look like? Here are some of them.
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Czech Hedgehog
Pyramid Trap
Belgian Gate
Omaha Beach
Ramp
Mission Margraten Plus
303 DeGraw St. Brooklyn, NY 11231, 631-766-3296 http://www.missionmargratenplus.org
Mission Margraten Plus is a non-profit born from the desire of 15 of our WWII Veteran friends to attend the 75th anniversary of the Dutch Liberation in the Netherlands. That 75th anniversary was in May 2020.
Our inspiring group of WWII Veterans had been invited as guests of honor, to several events marking that anniversary. One of the events was to have King Willem Alexander of The Netherlands in attendance. It was a true honor to have been invited.
COVID-19 came and cancelled the events and derailed our trip, but not the hopes of the 15 WWII Veterans who wanted to go. Those same Veterans were excited to hear that the trip had been rescheduled and will happen when it is safe to do so. Four of our Veterans turned 100 during the pandemic. One other will be 100 in November. The other Veterans are in their late 90’s and all are ready and willing to take our trip.
Our original Mission was to take them to the Netherlands American Military Cemetery and Memorial in Margraten where 8,300 American WWII soldiers are buried and over 1,700 MIA names are honored on the “Wall of the Missing.” As the need for that cemetery grew during WWII, a Dutch grave adoption program began, where families from the area took care of the graves of fallen American soldiers. Many families have been caring for the graves for over 77 years and have passed their heartfelt care on through the generations. It is there that our WWII Veterans will meet those families and personally thank them for tending to the graves of their fallen Brothers. We are hopeful to attend events, like those originally scheduled for the 75th anniversary, at the Netherlands American Military Cemetery and Memorial in Margraten in May of 2022 for their Liberation Day celebrations. We know that our wonderful group of WWII Veterans may not be able to make the 80th anniversary and so the time to bring them there is now, on “One Last Mission” ….
A Mission of Gratitude and Peace