Posted on 08/15/2011 7:04:02 AM PDT by ccj85
American D-Day veterans are crying foul over a French initiative, approved last month by President Nicolas Sarkozy, to construct over one-hundred 525-feet wind turbines just off the Normandy landing grounds.
According to Gérard Lecornu, president of the Port Winston Churchill Association of Arromanches, the giant structures, expected to be built seven miles from the beach, will be visible from the Normandy battleground beaches of Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword.
“Three million tourists come from the world over to the landing beaches. The first thing they do is look at the line of horizon from where the landings came,” he told The Daily Telegraph. “D-Day is in our collective memory. To touch this is a very grave attack on that memory.”
American veterans are weighing in with opposition and dismay. Bob Sales, the only survivor from his landing craft on D-Day, and Omaha beach veteran Bob Slaughter told The Daily Caller that the beaches are “sacred ground” and expressed their strong opposition to the building of the turbines.
Hal Baumgarten, who was wounded five times on Omaha beach, added that he considers the beaches to be a “shrine” to those who died and said that constructing windmills off the coast would be a “desecration.”
“I landed with the first wave on Omaha beach,” said Baumgarten. “Of course it is hallowed ground. I have been going back for the last 15 years straight — except I missed last year and this year … When I look at it I see all the bodies — we lost a lot of people on D-Day, especially on my beach where we couldn’t get any reinforcements.”
(Excerpt) Read more at thedc.com ...
Terrible....
Not really. The beaches are there to be used.
On the other hand, wind turbines are a really stupid way to generate power.
At least the Germans aren’t building them. Although, you never know.
Why don’t they also put one atop the Eiffel Tower?
Well, you have to admit - France does lose a lot of ground to National shrines to honor the wounded and dead of battle....
of course maybe if they’d done a little better job of defending themselves, maybe there wouldn’t be so many shrines to foreigners that died there.
France plans to build wind turbines on D-Day beaches;And for those interested in the geometry, a 525 foot object can be seen from 28.1 miles.American D-Day veterans are crying foul over a French initiative, approved last month by President Nicolas Sarkozy, to construct over one-hundred 525-feet wind turbines just off the Normandy landing grounds.
... the giant structures, expected to be built seven miles from the beach, will be visible from the Normandy battleground beaches of Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword.
I agree. If every place in Europe that has had a battle became off limits...
well, that writes off pretty much most of Europe.
I hope that Sarkozy has included the cost of dismantling and removing the windmills so they do not continue to be eye pollution. Windmills are NOT cost effective, plus there are environmental disruptions and damage being glossed over.
Read Ambrose’s “D-Day”, you might change your mind.
What would the distance be from the top of a 170’ bluff?
I’ve walked a lot of battlefields and they are not usually set aside for historical purposes.
Most all of Europe constitutes a battlefield. Setting it aside these places would be impossible. If you want to remember, look at the bullet pocked stone buildings that abound all over Europe. Sitting and having a coffe, while counting the line of bullet pocks on the building across the street keeps the memory alive as well as anything.
Windmills might be stupid or not, but they are part of living, and that is the point of fighting battles.
I’m more put off by cheap novelty shops at battlefields. Life goes on and you can’t make a shrine out of the entire Normandy coastline.
I hate looking at those damned turbines... they’ve destroyed the landscape throughout the farmlands in the Midwest.
I agree... do they HAVE to be placed right there on such an important historical site? France has hundreds of miles of shoreline.
but reality says theyll prolly just be ready made tank obstacles to be moved to shore by the next Rommel...
You mean they should have done what the Nazi did -- redirect their entire economy into becoming a world-class fighting machine? Do you know much about the fight the French put up -- or are you simply parroting what "everybody knows"?
that was a brilliant reply.
“on D-Day beaches” to “”just off the Normandy landing grounds” to “expected to be built seven miles from the beach”
That was my first thought on reading the article. Somebody is playing a bit loose with the facts.
If the turbines were on the beach, they might have a case. But the turbines are SEVEN MILES from the beaches.
That is a bit like complaining that the Eiffel tower spoils the view everywhere in Paris.
Furthermore, Wind turbines need to be placed where the wind is, otherwise they are just decorations.
You ever collect any combat pay or imminent danger pay? Lose a good friend or family in a war? If not, your opinion is pretty much irrelevant, as you have no skin in the game.
They've ruined some of the wide open spaces in Texas, too. They're awful.
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