World War II vets return to Normandy to commemorate D-Day 79 years ago
D-Day veterans are nearing age 100 now, but they remember the Allied onslaught at Normandy as if it were yesterday.
It’s been 79 years since that fateful day of June 6, 1944, when 150,000 Allied troops stormed the beaches of France’s Normandy region, a massive military invasion that turned the tide against the Nazis.
Dozens of American World War II veterans have already been in France since the weekend attending ceremonies honoring the sacrifice of the Allied forces comprised mostly of U.S., British and Canadian troops.
On Sunday more than 40 American World War II vets paraded, many of them in wheelchairs, through the streets of Sainte-Mere-Eglise, where thousands of paratroopers rained down on June 6, 1944. The streets were lined with cheering, applauding crowds of people thanking them and posing for photos.
In Virginia on Tuesday, Gov. Glenn Youngkin will address attendees at the National D-Day Memorial. Gates open at 10 a.m., and events will be livestreamed. He’ll be joined by several military experts, all with a perspective of the meaning of D-Day. The events are put on by the nonprofit National D-Day Memorial Foundation, which strives “to preserve the lessons and legacy of D-Day,” according to its website.
The Eisenhower, Roosevelt, and Truman Presidential Libraries host an annual online symposium that focuses on various aspects of the Allied Effort. The 2023 theme is built around the theme “Difficult Decisions” and includes a look at the newly published book “Forgotten: The Untold Story of D-Day’s Black Heroes, at Home and at War, by keynote speaker Linda Hervieux.
A group calling itself D-day Overlords has compiled a list of events throughout France, which started in late May and continue into the first week of June.
This also kicks off the year leading to the 80th anniversary, and events and festivals are already on tap in France under the auspices of Music Celebrations International, a group that plans to sponsor a yearlong series of events throughout France.
On D-Day, Allied troops landed on beaches code-named Omaha, Utah, Juno, Sword and Gold, carried by 7,000 boats. In all, between that day and Aug. 21, 1944, more than 2 million men landed in northern France, with 226,386 casualties, according to the National Archives. Of those, 72,911 were killed or went missing, and 153,475 were wounded. The Germans suffered more than 240,000 casualties, with 200,000 captured.
“It was tough,” recalled Robert Gibson, 99, as he stared at Utah Beach where he had landed as a teenaged soldier. . “Lots of casualties. We had almost run over bodies to get in the beach. Never forget, we were only 18, 19 years old. ... I’m glad I made it.”
Gibson was among dozens of vets who attending ceremonies in Normandy, some of whom had never met before.
“I want to give you a hug, thank you,” Jake Larson, 100, told 99-year-old Bill Gladden after an intense discussion at the memorial. “I got tears in my eyes. We were meant to meet.”
Larson shares his stories with 600,000-plus TikTok followers who know him as “Papa Jake.”
And such stories they are. Landing on Omaha Beach, he ran under machine-gun fire and dodged bullets all the way to the cliffs.
It was U.S. veteran Andrew Negra’s first time back since the invasion. . The 99-year-old is the only surviving member of his battalion.
“So many we lost,” he said, as he walked on the beach. “And here I am.”
With News Wire Services
