M. Dane Picard wrote these striking words in an article, "Journey to
Normandy", in the Journal of Geoscience Education, v. 47 (1999), no. 2, p.
177-181:
 
        "We came to Utah Beach past Ste-Marie-du-Mont. It had rained during the
night and was raining still. There were seabirds feeding on shore, and the
wind caught them when they flew and held them over the white caps. On the
dark afternoon mollusk shells glistened.
        "There were no artifacts of the Normandy landings. In the last more than a
half century, the beaches and countryside have been scoured, stripped of
[gun] shells and other war remains by collectors and by the sea.
        "I walked along the Beach. Normandy clams alive at the time of the
landings died long ago, as did the gastropods. Assuming a clam's life is
about 12 to 15 years, 8 generations or so of clams have prospered and
perished on the Normandy beaches since D-Day. Could we have seen in clam
shells evidence of the stress they experienced?"
 
Picard goes on to describe the mollusks and rocks, but this unusual
question remains unanswered. The surf pounds the shells into sand and
gravel. "Yet, the species of the population could be readily identified."
 
Andrew K. Rindsberg
Geological Survey of Alabama