D-Day Letterboxing

We are still on our Viking River Cruise and the ship is docked in Rouen. Today we took a bus from the dock to visit the beaches of Normandy. This is the site of the June 6, 1944 D-Day Invasion. When planning the trip I found a clue for a letterbox planted at the American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France. I was hoping we would have time to look for the box and I also hoped that it wouldn't be too far away since on most of our excursions we don't have a whole lot of free time.

After attending a ceremony and walking around the cemetery we had about 30 minutes to go in search of the box. {You can read about our entire day at D-Day: June 6, 1944 [A Visit to the Beaches of Normandy].} Thankfully the letterbox was hidden outside the cemetery between the parking area and the entrance to the cemetery. It was still a large area but definitely doable in the time we had. When we had entered the area from the parking lot I noticed a couple of four foot high, white, square posts. So when I read the clues I immediately thought that we needed to start there. But you know what they say about assuming. So after some searching around we found another set of posts exactly like the ones I saw when we entered except that the second set I found wasn't in plain site. You had to go past a building and around a slight curve. The good news was that I found the box and with time to spare - except that I also wanted to plant a box. A small detail that I had forgotten until Thomas reminded me. Time now was getting short so Thomas and Dave went and hid my box while Deanne and I stamped into Normandy by AFD 13. We were the first finders of this box as it had only been planted at the beginning of September. When we completed stamping in we got the box back into its hiding spot and then Thomas and Dave returned from hiding my box. It wasn't too far from where we were so I went and looked at where it was hidden and then jotted down some clues and took pictures. So if you are in Colleville-sur-Mer, France and are visiting the American Cemetery please take time to look for Battlefield Cross. Once all of this was done we headed back to the bus with only minutes to spare. I am glad I found the box today and now I can say I letterboxed and found a box in France.