Tour guide in Le Havre François G.

Bonjour, my name is Francois. I was born and raised in Caen, the capital of lower Normandy. I also lived 17 years in England : London, west yorkshire and for 12 years I was literally "sent to Coventry", a town in the midlands, working for the city council. It is during my time there where I learnt English. All my family is from Normandy and were in the Caen area during the two and half months in 1944 we now call "The battle of Normandy". I grew up learning from a generation who survived those events and understood the impact it had on their lives. I vividly remember as a kid at family gathering, listening for hours to my grandparents, uncles and aunties talking about the German occupation, the bombings, the suffering, the liberation and newly restored freedom. I also have a Spanish Grandfather who was a republican and played his part by fighting the Germans in the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939. He ended up as a refugee in France and was eventually taken prisoner by the Germans, being one of the slave laborers building the now famous, or should I say infamous "Atlantic wall". I'm very passionate about my work and I have always been fascinated by history and more particularly WW2 and the battle of Normandy. As a young man, I was always interested in the military aspect of history, but getting older and more mature I'm now much more interested in the personal experiences of the soldiers and civilians. A personal memoir tells you so much more than a military history about what people endured. Professional baccalaureate in forestry business. D-day beaches tour guide, 7 years for Normandy Sightseeing tours company. Menber of Normandy Battlefield Tour Guide Association. Registered in France as Guide accompagnateur. VTC owner. (carte professionnelle de conducteur de voiture de transport avec chauffeur). I'm a licensed D-day beaches Guide. I also own a license to transport people wherever they want BUT I'm not a licensed Guide to guide inside the abbey of Mont Saint Michel or any National monuments.