Can ya dig it? On verra. . . .

This post is coming from you in Normandy, France. Our french connection, Hippolyte Vauclair got us (Mom, Dad, Grandpa Shumway, Uncle David, & yours truly) a slick place right on Gold Beach. Walk out the back door, down some stairs, across the lawn and you're in the sand. We all went for a swim last night, meaning I swam for 15 min, David dunked his head & swam back in to shore, & dad got his knees wet. We have a long way to go to catch up with our swim conference champions Angela & Natalie. . . .

Well, at this point we've seen all the locations where our missing friend was potentially captured, taken as a prisoner, & even buried. There are numerous accounts of what really happened, but there is about 85% overlap & we were happy to learn last night that there is enough info to dig! The military attachment that was sent out was primarily a "scope it out team", as it was apparently assumed that a dig wouldn't happen this time out, but thankfully we have enough pieces of the puzzle to go for it. Another helpful piece is that we already have the permission of the landowner, & a farmer skilled in the art of backhoe -ing who is at our disposition. One of the reasons the anthropologie phd decided to dig was his concern that these local farmers would have done so a week later if we had all left without doing so. Not sure if that's a good sign or not in regards to our chances, but whatever gets us to dig we're counting as a "tender mercy."

So, this morning, as soon as everyone pulls themselves out of bed, we're heading "on location" do peel back the earth layer by layer with a backhoe. The total area we could possibly dig is approx 5m x 30 m. So for you farmers out there, you know that a backhoe can take care of that in half a day. But, to be safe & do the job carefully, it's assumed that the dig could take 2 days or more.

Dad, who's done a dizzying amount of prep work to come with as much data has possible (even outdoing/impressing the entire MIA/POW team), was kind enough to let me sit in on the interviews of the locals while he and David did their best song & dance to keep the other locals entertained that came to see Grandpa, shake his hand, tell him thank-you, learn about his story, etc. It's fun having such a French-speaking group, which allows me to chillax a bit more. It's been crazy to see stances taken by the locals during WWII, from fierce resistance to complete collaboration. Very easy to see why it was such a dark time in their history. Out of respect for those that were interviewed, I'll spare their stories for the world wide web, but there are some great ones we look forward to sharing once we return.

The weather has been great, it's much warmer here (both water & air) than when we've come previously in early June. Well, the troops are up, & we're about to head out. I'll try to post again in the next day or so.

Congrats to Natalie for making the soccer team!!!