Late Saturday afternoon, the weary travelers made their way back to Ashford, Kent. After 4 nights in France the boys were hungry, tired, and in dire need of showers. Alison said that after feeding Matt & Josh, she got to work on the laundry. Having learned from "Pen-gate" (i.e. when Joshua left a pen in his pocket and it got all over the wash) she checked all pockets thoroughly! After a hearty meal, the kids took off to go bowling. Later they came home and spent the evening watching the Olympics on TV.
Back in Ashford, the leaders were able to catch us all up on their France excursion... so I am adding some additional comments and photos.
From Randy:
Catch up time! Being the lowly leader without an iPad, I didn't have what little access was available to the others during our French adventure... So, I thought I'd add a few pictures and a bit of narrative.
As you all know, on Tuesday we took the ferry over to Calais, rented three cars and headed down to Normandy! Driving in France was a breeze...the drive on the correct siode of the road, although their signs are all in some strange language. The American Cemetery superintendent was more than accomdating and allowed us to literally camp in his backyard. Over the next couple of days we participated in 2 flag raisings and 2 flag retrievals (all exteremely moving and impressive - a British Brigadier General on hand gave us glowing compliments), toured the American Cemetery, visited Pointe du Hoc, had lunch in a seaside French cafe, visited St. Mere Eglise (saw the Airborne Museum, had lunch at a street fair and all had some real French pastries), visited Utah Beach, and splashed in the waters of Omaha Beach. After a night of violent thunderstorms on Thursday night, we headed to Paris for a "drive-by" site seeing tour (Effiel tower, the biog bus tour around town, and unfortunately only an hour in the Louvre) - with lunch in small cafe, including a chance for ALL the boys to try escargot! Early the next morning (today) we headed back to England, all very tired.
From Jason:
I would like to say what an amazing group of boys we have. The maturity and presence is profound. Parents, you can all be proud of you scouts. I have received countless compliments on this group.
In the Normandy Cemetery we we marching out to a flag ceremony and the place went to a stand-still. There were around a thousand people with their eyes on us and we were real pros. Really, I can't put this into words as it was a moment in time for me I will never forget.
From Tom:
I was so proud! I'm so pleased to be associated with theses boys! I can't put into words how awesome it was to watch! (Flag Ceremony).
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| Troop 1 performing a flag retrieval at the American Cemetery at Omaha Beach |
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| The boys really did a great job - retiring the colors at the American Cemetery at Omaha Beach. |
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| This picture was taken with some American Military Officers after a joint retreating of the flag. |
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| How many Utah scout troops get their pictures taken at Utah Beach. |
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| This patch was presented to Troop 1 by Cemetery Superintendent Hans Hooker for the great display of Scout Spirit during our visit. |
