Taking the Kids: Making World War II history come alive at Normandy

Allied naval forces followed. Beginning at 6:30 a.m., six U.S., British and Canadian divisions landed on Utah, Omaha, Gold Juno and Sword Beaches in history's greatest amphibious assault.

To reach the plateau where the American Cemetery stands, troops fought across an open area and up steep bluffs. By the end of the day, Americans had control of Omaha Beach and the tide of the war had turned. But the cost in human life was terribly high. The 101st Airborne alone lost 30 percent of its 15,000 men and most of their equipment.

Nearby at Arromanches Circular Cinema we see a 20-minute movie shown on nine, 360 degree screens that tells the story of the 100 days of Normandy, complete with archived footage from around the world.

But all of the museums and the best films can't compare to showing the kids where the action took place on the beaches, in the huge German fortifications that stretched along the coast called "The Atlantic Wall." Kids clamor up on top of the giant concrete bunkers and then peer through the lookout over the coast at Longues sur Mer just as the German soldiers did just before D-Day.

We see the steep cliffs Army Rangers had to scale at La Pointe Du Hoc, halfway between Omaha and Utah beaches. At the Utah Beach Landing Museum, kids can get an activity book in English narrated by a "Jim," who tells the story of the fighting from a soldier's perspective. "A lot of us never had any real combat experience," Jim explains.

I loved how the museum artifacts make the 1944 battle real to 21st-century visitors -- the soldier's watch that stopped just before the landing, the things like chewing gum and jelly that Americans brought to France. There's a landing craft that ferried the soldiers to and from their ships.

For months after the landing, Utah Beach was used to ferry provisions, fuel and ammunition to the front lines.

We stop at the Ryes War Cemetery -- the only one where British and German soldiers are buried in the same place. Each of the British stones has a poignant inscription from each soldier's family. "I say Fred is not Dead, he is just away," reads the grave of F.I. Hillyard from the Royal Engineers, who was just 23 when he died in August 1944.

At the American Cemetery, there are no ages -- just names, rank and home state. Most of those who are buried here, including many brothers side by side, died in the D-Day invasion or the weeks afterward.

"I don't know much about my grandfather," Elizabeth Kelly said. "My father was too young to remember him."

But Forrest Kelly hasn't been forgotten. There are two more Forrests in the family -- his grandson and great-grandson.

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For more about Eileen's trip to Normandy and France, read her trip diaries at www.takingthekids.com. Eileen Ogintz welcomes your questions and comments. Wherever you are traveling this summer, check out Eileen's Kids City Guide Series to NYC, Washington, DC, Orlando, LA, Chicago and now Boston. They're available on line and from major booksellers. Follow @takingthekids at Twitter and Facebook.