Sure it’s been 69 years since our troops ran across those beaches, and dropped out of C-47’s  in order to bring mayhem to the German occupying forces along the Normandy coast and further inland. American engineers cleaned up a lot of stuff that was left on the beaches here by the Germans such as beach obstacles, barbed-wire and all the blown up guns, but the mines too, un-exploded ordonnances maybe even some dud arial bombs that didn’t detonate once released from the air.

American engineers not only cleared the beach exits so troops could get off the beach, but set up fuel dumps, machine gun emplacements as well as anti-aircraft ground fire (even though the Luftwaffe never really posed a threat) but mainly they are builders build new and wider road sometimes even creating roads where there weren’t any, re-building the port of Cherbourg building ALG’s (advance landing ground = airfield) and as the Normandy campaign came to an end then moved on…

A lot of the stuff was re-used by the local population who had been deprived of quite a few ressources during the German/Nazi occupation of Normandy, these people are going to make used of anything and everything they can get they’re hands on.

Whether it be German equipment or American equipment  (often US Army supplies) if it could be used for something it would.

Today if you know where to look you can still see left-overs of the war, many farmers here in Normandy use PSP (pierced steal plating) as a fence or part of a fench, it’s the same PSP that was used for the airfields and runways that were laid out on the ground where U.S. Aircorp would bring in planes.

Relics of all shapes and sizes can be found in private collections or museums. Plaques little know by the general public can often be found when you’re not looking for them and just happen to stumble upon them around a corner on the edge of a house.

A rusted sherman tank is still an impression piece of machinery.