We shall slight them on the beaches! Cafe on Normandy’s Omaha beach stormed by the Allies during D-Day ‘tells British soldiers it won’t serve them because they are ENGLISH’
A World War II guide has smashed a cafe on Omaha beach in Normandy, claiming it refused to serve a group of British soldiers ‘because they are English’.
Creperie la Falaise in Vierville-sur-Mer overlooks the coastline that was stormed by Allied forces on D-Day as they tried to liberate France from Nazi occupation.
Almost exactly sixty years later, battlefield guide Eugenie Brooks said the troops she took to the diner were denied service.
“This cafe in Vierville Draw in Omaha Beach, Normandy today refused to serve my British Army soldiers as ‘they are English’,” she wrote on to undertake .’
Ms Brooks stressed that the group of ‘junior soldiers’ had been ‘well behaved’ and ‘properly dressed’ when they were cleared.
Battlefield guide Eugenie Brooks said on X that troops she brought to the diner were denied service
American assault troops seen here landing on Omaha beach during the invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944
The group wasn’t the first to have a bad experience at the lunch spot: half of all TripAdvisor reviews gave it a meager one star, describing it as “terrible.”
One visitor, who said they visited this month, said they had the ‘worst customer experience ever’ and claimed the establishment showed ‘total disregard for customers and visitors from Britain’.
Another person who posted yesterday said she and “a small group of military descendants who visited Omaha beach” received “terrible service” and were “ignored.”
In 2018, another British customer described how they got up and left after ‘the owner totally ignored us and made no effort to clear the table’, describing their experience as ‘the rudest, most unwelcoming service I have ever experienced in a cafe have received’.
It’s not just British travelers who seem to have been turned off by the bistro’s staff; a Dutch couple is also said to have gotten up and left.
In a separate 2022 review, a Polish customer’s staff was rude and said something out loud about us in French.
“From what I understand, they didn’t hear our hello. So we had to repeat it all very loudly a few times to get the menu,” he added.
And a Google review about a summer 2022 visit also reported “rudeness” from staff, with the person bluntly writing, “Ladies and gentlemen, we found it!” This is perhaps the worst place in all of France.’
Photos from the cafe show flags from around the world, including the British Union Jack.
It appears to be an American diner with Coca-Cola signs and Betty Boop memorabilia.
It is less than a mile from the D-Day Museum in Omaha and a short distance from the Overlord Museum and the Normandy American Cemetery.
During Operation Overlord, Allied forces invaded five Normandy beaches on June 6, 1944, codenamed Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword.
British troops take up positions on Sword Beach during D-Day June 6, 1944 after Allied forces storm the beaches of Normandy
The cafe is less than a mile away from the D-Day Museum in Omaha and a short distance from the Overlord Museum and the Normandy American Cemetery (pictured)
The capture of Omaha was the responsibility of the US 1st Infantry, 5th Corps, with sea transport from the US Navy and support from the Royal Navy.
The Americans, the best defended area, suffered more casualties than Allied forces on any other beach, approximately 2,400.
They managed to gain a small foothold by the end of a day of heavy fighting, and 34,000 Allied troops landed by nightfall.
The film Saving Private Ryan, starring Tom Hanks, famously portrays the storming of the beach.
MailOnline has contacted Creperie la Falaise for comment.