Memorial Day at the Normandy American Cemetery [PHOTOS] - Breaking Defense

Just as Paris rushes to prepare for the Olympics, the region of Normandy to the west is getting ready for its own high-profile celebration, this one taking place on and around June 6 for the 80th anniversary of the successful D-Day landings of World War II.
That explains all the temporary construction and the occasional bang of a hammer echoing over the hallowed ground here that is the Normandy American Cemetery. The periodic clangs, though, do little to detract from the solemnity of the place on Memorial Day with its rows upon endless rows of small white gravestones, laid out on a vast green field. And the construction work stopped altogether in the afternoon when distant bells chimed The Star Spangled Banner followed a few minutes later by a lone horn somberly sounding out Taps.