I Went to the USA Without a Passport and Without Leaving France

Is that even possible? Spoiler: Yes.

I’m not talking about the American embassy.

I went to the USA in France, in a place with much more history.

In a small place in Normandy where an estimated 29 000 American lives were lost.

On a piece of land overlooking Omaha Beach.

As a thank you for the lives sacrificed during WW2 and D-day in Normandy, France gave territories to the USA for military cemeteries.

The ones you can see at the beginning of Saving Private Ryan.

Those cemeteries belong to the USA. 100%.

By going there, I have indeed been to the USA without a passport and without leaving France as French law still applies there.

Despite the anecdote.

I vow immense respect for this place.

Only a few places in the world bear the weight of History like the American cemeteries do in Normandy.

You’re left in awe.

Hundreds and hundreds of white crosses.

You realize then and there the reality of what history books only write about.

You realize the magnitude of the tragedy that is War.

Your mind stops.

In admiration and sadness for the brave soldiers who gave their lives so we could live free.

If you haven’t visited, please do.

The duty of remembrance becomes more important as decades pass by.

May they rest in peace and be thanked for their sacrifice in perpetuity.