From Military.com:
“Normandy Commemorates D-Day
with Small Crowds, but Big Heart”
(World War II reenactors gather
on Omaha Beach in Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer, Normandy, Sunday, June 6, 2021, the
day of 77th anniversary of the assault that helped bring an end to World War
II.)
When the sun rises over Omaha
Beach, revealing vast stretches of wet sand extending toward distant cliffs,
one starts to grasp the immensity of the task faced by Allied soldiers on June
6, 1944, landing on the Nazi-occupied Normandy shore. Several ceremonies are
scheduled Sunday to commemorate the 77th anniversary of the decisive assault
that led to the liberation of France and western Europe from Nazi control, and
honor those who fell. On D-Day, more than 150,000 Allied troops landed on the
beaches code-named Omaha, Utah, Juno, Sword and Gold, carried by 7,000 boats.
This year on June 6, the beaches stood vast and empty as the sun rose, exactly
77 years since the dawn invasion. For the second year in a row, anniversary
commemorations are marked by virus travel restrictions that have prevented
veterans or families of fallen soldiers from the U.S., Britain, Canada and
other Allied countries making the trip to France. Only a few officials were
allowed exceptions. Most public events have been canceled, and the official
ceremonies are limited to a small number of selected guests and dignitaries. Denis
van den Brink, a WWII expert working for the town of Carentan, site of a strategic
battle near Utah Beach, acknowledged the “big loss, the big absence is all the
veterans who couldn’t travel.” “That really hurts us very much because they are
all around 95, 100 years old, and we hope they’re going to last forever. But,
you know...” he said. “At least we remain in a certain spirit of commemoration,
which is the most important,” he told The Associated Press. Over the
anniversary weekend, many local residents have come out to visit the monuments
marking the key moments of the fight and show their gratitude to the soldiers.
Dozens of French World War II history enthusiasts, and a few travelers from
neighboring European countries, could also be seen in jeeps and military
vehicles on the small roads of Normandy. Some reenactors came to Omaha Beach in
the early hours of the day to pay tribute to those who fell that day, bringing
flowers and American flags. On D-Day, 4,414 Allied troops lost their lives,
2,501 of them Americans. More than 5,000 were wounded. On the German side,
several thousand were killed or wounded.
A few kilometers (miles) away
from Omaha Beach, the British Normandy Memorial is to be inaugurated on Sunday
outside the village of Ver-sur-Mer. Visitors stand in awe at the solemnity and
serenity of the place providing a spectacular view over Gold Beach and the
English Channel. The monument, built under a project launched in 2016, pays
tribute to those under British command who died on D-Day and during the Battle
of Normandy. The names of more than 22,000 men and women, mostly British
soldiers, are written on its stone columns.
Later on Sunday, another ceremony will take place at the American
cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, on a bluff overseeing Omaha Beach. Charles
Shay, 96, a Penobscot Native American who now lives in Normandy, is expected to
be the only veteran present in person. Some other veterans, and families of
soldiers, will be able to watch the broadcast on social media. The cemetery
contains 9,380 graves, most of them for servicemen who lost their lives in the
D-Day landings and ensuing operations. Another 1,557 names are inscribed on the
Walls of the Missing. Normandy has more than 20 military cemeteries holding
mostly Americans, Germans, French, British, Canadians and Polish troops who
took part in the historic battle.
^ It’s sad to see a second D-Day
Anniversary have to go virtual, but at least the anniversary was marked. ^
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