D-Day vets: Wind turbines off Normandy beaches a ‘desecration’

ARROWMANCHES, FRANCE - JUNE 06: World War Two military enthusiasts gather on the beach prior to the Normandy Veterans Final Salute on June 6 2009 in Arrowmanches, France. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

Military historian Paul Stillwell explained that the steadfast opposition by surviving D-Day veterans is more than understandable.

“In effect that has become sacred ground and it is a huge intrusion to put some kind of distraction like that nearby,” Stillwell said. “You could compare it to the Battle of Gettysburg. Some years ago an entrepreneur put up a large observation tower [on the Gettysburg battleground], which was considered a desecration and public opinion was such that it was finally demolished.”

“Obviously the world needs to find alternative sources of energy, but I do not think that is the place,” he added.

“I think it’s a disgusting affair,” Jack Martin, a Canadian who was among the soldiers on Juno Beach, weighed in on CTV Edmonton in Canada. “I saw so many of my buddies and friends die on Juno Beach that I figure it is very hallowed grounds.”

The French government insists that the windmills will not significantly mar the view from the coast and that “most” local officials support the plan, which is expected to be completed by 2020.

“The transition to the 21st century by making the most of huge unexploited wind power off our coasts is not an insult to yesterday’s warriors,” Mickaël Marie, president of the Europe Ecologie group at the lower Normandy regional council, told The Telegraph.

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