Hi,
So im getting ready for a trip to visit the Normandy beachs, and towns. I would like to get some sand from each beach. Are there souvenir shops that sell it, im trying not to break any laws.
My grand father came on the beach on D+3 with the 2nd Armored divsion. I have some of his old maps that have movements and places they saw action and I plan to make copys and visit some of the spots.

My friend visited two weeks ago and said the gift shops have sand from each beach labeled and ready to go.

Cool, thank you

Are there any forrested area to hike through that have ww2 stuff, maybe places their were battles off the beaten path?.

As to the sand and the beaches, yes you can pick it up yourself and there are tins for sale in the shops. You can also find all kinds of stuff after a major storm. Back in 2002 I found a pocket of ammo and the French were out in boats magnet fishing.

On the Forests, there are maps you can get(or could get with battles/forests etc), you will want a car to get to them. The ww2 battle fields were generally fast moving and did not leave much and most of what is left are tank parts and junk mostly buried from an intense explosion etc. The stuff that was left was picked up by the locals and either scrapped or hidden-French and Belgium farmers love guns. Metal detector guys have been hitting the areas now for at least 2 decades, so good luck finding anything other than bunkers.

On the other hand there is a ton of stuff left over from WW1, mostly UXO and the brass detonators, with the later the only thing you want to touch. They also sell them in the shops. You can also find other stuff like entire reals of bob wire, the sheet metal bunkers in the trenches, bullets by the bucket full etc.  I found some other cool stuff with the help of a local.