From AFT:
“World War II veterans return to Utah Beach to mark D-Day
anniversary”
(U.S war veterans salute during a ceremony outside the
Pegasus Bridge memorial in Benouville, Normandy, Monday, June 5, 2023.)
World War II veterans shared vivid memories of D-Day and the
fighting as dozens returned to Normandy beaches and key battle sites to mark
the 79th anniversary of the decisive assault that led to the liberation of
France and Western Europe from Nazi control. Looking at the vastness of Utah
Beach, its sand blowing in strong wind and bright sunshine, 99-year-old Robert
Gibson remembered: “it was tough.” Gibson landed there on June 6, 1944
alongside more than 150,000 other Allied troops. He said there were “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.” The first job of his
battalion, he said, was “to guard an ammunition dump and the first night it got
struck. You didn’t know where you were to go. Bullets were going all over the
place. But we ducked it.”
On Monday, veterans have been greeted to the sound of
bagpipes at the Pegasus Memorial, where they attended a ceremony commemorating
a key operation in the first minutes of the D-Day operations, when troops had
to take control of a strategic bridge. World War II veterans Jake Larson, a
100-year-old American, and Bill Gladden, a 99-year-old British national, met at
the memorial where they had a close discussion. “I want to give you a hug,
thank you. I got tears in my eyes. We were meant to meet,” Larson told Gladden,
their hands clasped. Larson, who has more than 600,000 followers on TikTok,
explained with enthusiasm: “I’m just a country boy. Now I’m a star on TikTok.
You can see me all over: ‘Papa Jake.’ I’m a legend! I didn’t plan this, it came
about. Larson landed on Omaha Beach, where he ran under machine-gun fire and
made it to the cliffs without being wounded. “I’m 100 without an ache or a
pain. You can’t fake that,” he said.
(Military officials lay a wreath of flowers at the Pegasus
Bridge, one of the first sites liberated by Allied forces from Nazi Germany, in
Benouville, Normandy, Monday, June 5, 2023.)
U.S. veteran Andrew Negra returned for the first time to Utah
Beach this year. The last time he stood there was when he landed on July 18,
1944. He was “amazed” by the warm welcome from local French people: “Every
place we went, people are cheering, clapping, and they’ve been doing this for I
don’t know how many years.” At age 99, Negra is the only member of his
battalion who is still alive. Braving the wind to walk on the beach for a few
minutes, he said, “So many we lost. And here I am. Negra participated in combat
operations until his division reached eastern Germany in April 1945. On Sunday,
more than 40 American veterans of World War II formed a parade, using
wheelchairs, along the streets of the small town of Sainte-Mere-Eglise, where
thousands of paratroopers jumped not long after midnight on June 6, 1944. Cheerful
crowds applauded, calling out “Merci” and “Thank you.” Children waved, and many
families asked for a photo with the men.
Donnie Edwards, president of the Best Defense Foundation, a
nonprofit organization that helps World War II veterans visit former
battlefields, said, “For us, every year is a big one.” Given the ages of the
soldiers who fought nearly eight decades ago, Edwards observed, “Nothing is
guaranteed. So we want to make sure that we do everything we can to get them an
incredible and enjoyable experience.” The veterans then headed to
Sainte-Marie-du-Mont for a brief ceremony at a monument honoring the U.S. Navy
that overlooks Utah Beach. “The fallen will never be forgotten. The veteran
will ever be honored,” an inscription in the stone reads. Some of the
almost-centenarians asked volunteers to accompany them on the wide stretch of
sand. Matthew Yacovino, 98, became emotional as he remembered what happened
there to his older brother, who almost died after his jeep blew up during the
landings. “The driver got killed and my brother fell on the beach unconscious,”
Yacovino said with tears in the eyes. His brother eventually recovered.
Yacovino himself served as a U.S. combat air crewman during the war. Like
others who come to Normandy for historical reenactments of what transpired
there, Valérie and Lionel Draucourt, visitors from the Paris region, dressed in
khaki uniforms. They wanted to pay their respects to the veterans. “Frankly, I
don’t think we can quite fathom what they lived through. We can’t understand
it, it’s so big, it’s crazy,” Lionel Draucourt said.
Veterans were due to take part in official ceremonies of the
79th anniversary on Tuesday, including at the Normandy American Cemetery. On
D-Day, Allied troops landed on the beaches code-named Omaha, Utah, Juno, Sword
and Gold, carried by 7,000 boats. On that single day, 4,414 Allied soldiers
lost their lives, 2,501 of them Americans. More than 5,000 were wounded. On the
German side, several thousand were killed or wounded. U.S. Joint Chiefs
chairman, Gen. Mark Milley, stressed that the significance of the
commemorations “for memorializing the efforts that they did and what they did.”
“They were fighting to make sure that fascism and Nazism didn’t stay in control
of Europe. Ultimately, we all know that they were successful,” Milley said.
^ It is nice to see these Veterans go back to the places they
once fought and to see it during peacetime. ^
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