Plan to Breed Mussels Near Omaha Beach

June 30 -- There is no more famous World War II battlefield than the French beaches where the D-Day invasion occurred, where thousands of Americans and other Allied troops died.

For those who survived, and the relatives of those who died, it is sacred ground that should remain untouched.

But French fisherman Pascal Guilbert has other ideas — he wants to breed mussels, on a web of metal chords hanging from buoys, less than a mile off Omaha Beach.

The floating dock used to resupply the troops rests on the bottom of the water, and that's where Guilbert's mussel farm would be built.

Memories of Deceased Comrades Remain

Thousands of American troops landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Many never returned and hundreds of bodies were never recovered.

Many veterans are aghast at the mussel-breeding proposal. "It contains the blood of my comrades," said Maj. Frank Towers, who landed on Omaha Beach. "This is sacred ground."

Some 9,000 U.S. soldiers are buried on the hill overlooking Omaha Beach, and American visitors want to know why the fisherman had to choose this place.

"My father served in the service in World War II," said Jan Larson, the daughter of a D-Day veteran. "I would like to see it kept sacred, quite frankly."

For 58 years the waters off Omaha Beach have remained a place of pilgrimage, free of commercialization. The fear now is that if one business, even a small one, is allowed to operate in the area, many more could follow.

Guilbert says Omaha Beach is the best place possible for his project because the D-Day wreckage provides the perfect protection for his mussels.

The local mayor has received dozens of letters from angry American veterans, and now he is fighting to put a stop to Guilbert's plan.

"I realize that everybody has to make a living, but I believe there are places and times to do those things, and I don't think this is the place," Larson said. "There is a lot of ocean, a lot of beach … he can do it somewhere else."