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Won't be very many years until we have no survivors to make the trip to Omaha Beach.

I was fortunate enough to visit in 1998 (I think). Quite impressive to visit.
I brought back a little sand from the beach for my friends/family in the military.

I knew a man who survived that day/event. He lived to be 103 but is dead now. He took a bullet to his ankle. He was an organist so the wound almost ended his musical career. Dr. wanted to amputate but he begged and begged them to save his foot.......They did and he was able to eventually resume his career.
On the 50th anniversary he was able to attend the celebration events.

Best thing I ever did was make the side trip to Normandy when I was in Paris. Very moving to walk Utah Beach, Omaha Beach, and the American cemetery. BTW, when I walked Omaha Beach I didn't see any piles of rocks.

We just returned from New Orleans; primarily for a trip to the National World War II Museum, which is awesome. Both of my kids love history, and we could have spent a couple more days looking and reading all of the stuff they have there.

We stayed a block off Bourbon St.; that was an experience. Too many panhandlers and street "performers" for my tastes; and I'm not a drinker or a fan of jazz... Did hear some good rock & roll at a small bar and ate some tremendous seafood & got beignets, too.

We watched and really enjoyed a PBS presentation about D-Day. It was a NOVA called "D Day's Sunken Secrets".

Among a lot of other things, we were amazed to see one of the tactics used to divert attention from the landing beaches was to use inflatable decoy tanks and jeeps en route toward Calais. They looked like bouncey houses!

We also found out from that my wife had a great uncle who was killed by a sniper in Belgium in the closing months of the war...

FlashM wrote:We watched and really enjoyed a PBS presentation about D-Day. It was a NOVA called "D Day's Sunken Secrets".

Among a lot of other things, we were amazed to see one of the tactics used to divert attention from the landing beaches was to use inflatable decoy tanks and jeeps en route toward Calais. They looked like bouncey houses!

I watched that program and enjoyed it as well. I knew about the diversion force they set up near Calais. They didn't mention that Patton was sent there as part of the diversion because the Germans believed that wherever the invasion came from, Patton would be a part of it. )

It was neat to see the 90-year-old vet go down in a submersible to get a look at the LST that blew up under him.

My uncle was left for dead on the beach in Normandy. I was always afraid of him when I was a little girl, he had a loud, booming polish accent. I think his leg was injured since he always limped. I didn't know about his service on D-day until long after he passed away. My parents knew, but back then vets didn't talk about it.

My high school friend's dad was in the D-day invasion. When he got off the transport boat, he sank into the deep water with the weight of his gear. Someone nearby picked him up and saved him from drowning. He went on to fight in the Battle of the Bulge. He passed away a few years ago. Like my uncle, I didn't know about his service until my friend told me a few years ago.

Wish I could have thanked both of them.

By the time D Day happened, some men..like my father (infantry)..had already been fighting Germans for more than a year.