Today started wet – our first bad weather day. However,as we were largely travelling, at least to start with, that didn’t matter much.

We were off to join in with a Remembrance/Commemoration service at the village of Norolles, which is just north of Lisieux. We’d been invited by a French Historian – JeanMarc Lesueur. The ceremony was in memory of the 49th (Polar Bear) Division men who had lost their lives in the liberation of the village. One of the key reasons that we went was that Cpl Victor Scott was a member of that division. I’ve joined the Divisional Association . Partly to share the “MitS” Story & partly in hope of further information on Scott.

The Ceremony of Remembrance

Unfortunately, the rain didn’t let off . In fact it intensified. Which left us all standing under umbrellas. Similar to many of the smaller ceremonies that we’ve attended, it was short but run with a real sense of purpose & remembrance. Some of the youngsters of the village laid individual flowers to commemorate those that died. Another youngster doing a reading. As ever, it was great to see that the younger generation are being taught the importance of remembrance.

Then it was to the Vin d’Honneur. The rain began to ease off whilst we were having a great chat with Denis Dimond, Secretary of the 49th “Polar Bear” Association. Then, as the time came for us to eat, the sun came out!

The lunch went on from 12 until almost 4,  when we had to leave to get to our next hotel ready for an evening meal.

Denis was especially good company. We particularly enjoyed his anecdote about JeanMarc , and how he enjoyed going round and round the Caen Peripherique motorway!

It was sad to have to leave having made additional new friends, but we had further assignments.

Meeting Martha and Sam

Our accommodation for the evening was the IBIS Hotel in Port en Bessin – which was very nice. At 7pm we met up with Sam & Martha Bowen and their friends Susan & David. We were also joined by Graham Hollands – a retired General who now does Normandy Battlefield Tours – who proved to be a charming & well-informed chap. I hope that we’ll meet him again.

The meal in the Hôtel de la Marine was superb. We chatted about what we’ve discovered to date – especially with regard to Raymond Elledge, and our plans for the next couple of days.

Having eaten our fill, it was time to say “au revoir” until tomorrow.  Glyn & I, however, did manage a sneaky beer before heading back to the hotel.