R. Doug Wicker's Blog, page 37

Fun Photo Friday — Cobh Favorites 1

St. Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh

Today I present the first of two and a half Fun Photo Fridays featuring Cobh. That “half” is because the third will also be a Fun Food Friday restaurant review.

Слава Україні! (Slava Ukraini!)

Jewel of the Seas — Walking into Cobh, Ireland

Old Methodist Church (and former pub) on Westbourne Place

Today (actually, 6 June 2022) we’re off the ship and heading east along Westbourne Place. One of the things that in my view makes Cobh so fun to photograph are the myriad brightly colored buildings lining the main streets. This is especially true as you head along Westbourne Place toward Casement Square and continue along West Beach.

Westbourne Place (foreground) and West Beach (in the distance)

On the opposite side of Westbourne ...

Jewel of the Seas — Making Port in Cobh, Ireland

Royal Caribbean’s Jewel of the Seas in Cobh, Ireland

After a brief break to honor Memorial Day and commemorate the 79th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Normandy, today we’re back on articles involving the first of three back-to-back cruises aboard Royal Caribbean’s Jewel of the Seas. You may recall that these voyages took place from late May through the end of June 2022. Before my aforementioned break in this series, I showed you our earlier stops in Iceland and Belfast. Our visit to Jew...

D-Day — Omaha

All this week I’ll be rerunning my series on the D-Day Invasion of Normandy, France. Next week I’ll return you to our Iceland/Ireland trip and beyond. In the meantime, in commemoration of the 79th anniversary of Operation Neptune (the Normandy landings) and Operation Overlord (the Battle of Normandy) in the event we now collectively refer to as D-Day:

Omaha Beach

On D-Day, the 6th of June, 1944, Omaha Beach was bleak. U.S. V Corps under the direct command of Major General Leonard Gerow would sus...

D-Day — Utah

All this week I’ll be rerunning my series on the D-Day Invasion of Normandy, France. Next week I’ll return you to our Iceland/Irelandtrip and beyond. In the meantime, in commemoration of the 79th anniversary of Operation Neptune (the Normandy landings) and Operation Overlord (the Battle of Normandy) in the event we now collectively refer to as D-Day:

Utah Beach

The beach assaults on D-Day occurred at five locations. Gold, Juno, and Sword beaches lay to the east. The English took Gold and Sword. ...

D-Day — Pointe du Hoc

In honor of D-Day, 6 June 1944, I am rerunning this entry from my D-Day series, so disregard the first two sentences in the next paragraph:

All this week I’ll be rerunning my six-part series on the D-Day Invasion of Normandy, France. Next week I’ll return you to our Baltic trip and beyond. In the meantime, in commemoration of the 75th anniversary of Operation Neptune (the Normandy landings) and Operation Overlord (the Battle of Normandy) in the event we now collectively refer to as D-Day:

...

D-Day — Remembering John Steele, 82nd Airborne

All this week I’ll be rerunning my series on the D-Day Invasion of Normandy, France. Next week I’ll return you to our Iceland/Ireland trip and beyond. In the meantime, in commemoration of the 79th anniversary of Operation Neptune (the Normandy landings) and Operation Overlord (the Battle of Normandy) in the event we now collectively refer to as D-Day:

Paratroopers in Stained Glass

In keeping with Monday’s Memorial Day post and Wednesday’s commemoration of D-Day, I dedicate today’s post to the me...

D-Day — Sainte-Mère-Église

All this week I’ll be rerunning my series on the D-Day Invasion of Normandy, France. Next week I’ll return you to our Iceland/Ireland trip and beyond. In the meantime, in commemoration of the 79th anniversary of Operation Neptune (the Normandy landings) and Operation Overlord (the Battle of Normandy) in the event we now collectively refer to as D-Day:

82nd Airborne commemorated in stained glass

The D-Day invasion of Normandy began shortly after midnight on June 6, 1944, when English and American...

D-Day — Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial

On this Memorial Day weekend I’ll repeat this photo series from 2012:

Map of the D-Day Normandy Invasion

The map depicted above overlooks Omaha Beach. Behind that map lies the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial.

Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial

This military cemetery is a territorial concession granted by France to the United States, so this ground is fully administered and maintained by the U.S. government.

Some of the 1,557 names of unrecovered or missing U.S. servicem...

Memorial Week Part 3

USS Arizona’s final resting place

This week I commemorate Memorial Day with repeat articles from the Normandy American Memorial Cemetery and Memorial, the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, and the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial. Next week I will commemorate the 73rd anniversary of one of the greatest invasions in military history, the D-Day Invasion of June 6, 1944.

USS Arizona Memorial:

It’s a short hop, or sail in this case, from Hilo on the Big Island to Honolulu on the island of Oahu.  Urs...