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D-Day was never very special to me.
It's not something I ever celebrated,
even after my son joined the U.S. Army,
though he was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division,
one of the storied units that participated on D-Day.
Still, the history and the sacrifices seemed distant.
I've always considered myself a proud patriot.
I fly the flag, I've been to a lot of parades,
and I'm always reduced to tears when the veterans pass by.
But I had no idea how little I really knew
about the soldiers that fought and died for my freedom.
I knew even less about the men, women,
and children they liberated.
Until this D-Day.
This is the D-Day that changed me.
But this isn't America.
It's 3,000 miles away across an ocean.
And it's where I truly learned about freedom.
In 2015, as part of a unit from the 101st Airborne Division,
my son, Hunter was sent
from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, to Normandy, France,
to represent the 101st in the annual D-Day ceremonies.
Since it was a goodwill mission,
I was able to meet him there.
Hunter told me to meet him in the town of Carentan,
where a parachute drop was taking place.
When I got to Carentan,
I was desperately searching for anything
that might give me clues as to where I was supposed to go.
I was saved by parachutes falling from the sky.
Following them, I found the area I was looking for.
When I got there, what I saw made me feel like
I'd been spun out of a time machine and into 1944 France.
Willys Jeeps, 1940s bicycles,
groups of American Gis just lying around in the grass,
young women perfectly coiffed in period dress,
children dressed up as World War II Gis or civilians,
and American flags everywhere.
It felt like I was on Main Street America,
but everyone was speaking French.
It was very confusing.
And I found myself wondering, "What is going on?"
This chaotic scene quickly came into focus
when we were approached by a French woman
asking for a photograph.
This chance encounter brought me face to face with history
in a way that I never could have imagined.
This woman, Flo Boucherie, showed us a jacket
that had been given to her mother in 1944,
by an American GI, after he had liberated her town
of Sainte Marie du Mont.
And she explained that her mother, Dany Patrix,
played a very special part in this World War II story.
Her story was so compelling and unknown,
I had to find out more.
It dawned on me that Dany and her dress
embodied the French spirit of love
and gratitude towards Americans
and all the Allies that I felt from everyone in Normandy.
During my time there,
I watched French citizens ask veterans and soldiers
to take photos, sign autographs, and hold babies.
Celebrations and memorial services
were held side-by-side.
One minute, I was watching a parade, fireworks,
or a sky full of parachutes.
Moments later, I was listening to a speech
about the sacrifices that had been made,
or taking a tour of blast scarred buildings,
blood stained pews, and vast cemeteries.
And it made me wonder, how has this love
and gratitude lasted all these years,
and how many more stories were there,
just waiting to be uncovered?
I asked Dany's husband, Jean-Marie
what he remembered about the liberation.
Henri-Jean Renaud was 10 on D-Day.
Over the course of my time in Normandy,
I met many others, like Henri-Jean,
who recalled with incredible clarity,
the events of the D-Day landings.
Henri-Jean's father, Alexandre Renaud,
was the mayor of Sainte Mère Église.
As I began to look more closely
into untold, personal stories of D-Day,
I discovered that no one understood the complex nature
of the interactions between the French civilians
and the American Gis better than Charles de Vallavieille.
Charles took me to his family home, Brécourt Manor,
located in Normandy, in the town of Sainte Marie du Mont,
not far from Utah Beach,
the westernmost of the five D-Day landing beaches.
He told me this manor was commandeered during the occupation
and turned into a German battery.
This battery had four large guns on the property
and their sights were trained on nearby Utah Beach,
one of the two major landing zones
for the American troops on D-Day.
Disabling these guns was the first major objective
of the 101st Airborne Division paratroopers
that landed in the area.
Charles also told me that his father, Michel,
was the first family member to make contact
with the Americans who'd just liberated his farm.
I was shocked to learn
almost 20,000 French civilians lost their lives
in the Battle of Normandy,
and many of the people I met
shared heartbreaking stories of death and destruction
as a result of the Allied bombings.
Marie-Pascale Legrand's family
was tragically impacted by the war,
on both sides of the family.
She began with her mother's side of the story.
Other people I met
also had harrowing stories of D-Day.
Denise Leconte was 17 and Maurice Lecoeur was 10
when the battle began.
I discovered that as towns and villages
across Normandy were liberated,
soldiers gave away uniform patches,
parachute material,
K-rations, and canned goods,
along with Hershey bars, Lifesavers, and chewing gum.
Any child who showed up at a mess hall was fed.
Soldiers piled food on their plates
and gave them to hungry children.
They treated these kids as if they were their own.
The humanity and compassion
of the American Gis was not lost on the French civilians.
I was told that over the six months from D-Day,
until the port at Sainte Marie du Mont closed,
the grateful people of Normandy invited many
of the 800,000 American soldiers stationed there
into their homes for meals
and made them part of their families.
Dany told me that she remembers three soldiers
better than any of the others.
She called them Tall Larry, Big Smitty, and Harry.
These soldiers shared meals and memorable experiences
with the Patrix Family during the summer of 1944.
Dany made such an impression on Harry,
that his wife Eleanor told an American publication
about her husband having a "New girl in his life,"
in France.
"Eleanor Kropnicki was a bit concerned of late
when she received letters from her husband in Normandy,
telling her there was another girl in his life.
She wailed with an 'I knew this would happen!'
Until Harry sent a picture
of the petite infant, Miss Danielle Patrix, age five.
Needless to say, Mrs. K is very much relieved."
Her memories of Larry
were more of a musical nature.
It seemed to me, the French children were in love
with their larger-than-life heroes,
and they surely must have reminded some of the soldiers
of their own families back home.
Soldiers like Allen Hopper
of the 92nd Chemical Mortar Battalion
wrote about this to his own daughter Patti.
"My dearest daughter Patti,
just a short note to my sweeties sweety.
Now that your Daddy is seeing France
through the courtesy of Uncle Sam,
I will try to give you a quick picture of what I've seen.
The little French boys and girls are very friendly
and appear to be quite happy children.
The little boys wear skirts just like the girls
and it's hard to tell them apart.
They wear wooden shoes and it sounds like Borden's milk wagon
when they walk down the street.
At almost every cross road,
there's a crucifix of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and people that are traveling by
can kneel down and say a prayer.
Daddy has only been able to stop at a few,
but when I do, I pray for my two sweethearts at home.
Love from your Daddy, Allen."
I believe stories like these
are how the bonds of friendship between the Americans
and the people of Normandy took root.
Where the French children's relationships
with the Gis began with Jeep rides, chewing gum, and candy,
I learned the adults' bond
with the Americans began differently.
"Maybe that's when our special relationship
with them really began.
The fact that we'd been physically with them,
all of those who had died, all of those dead bodies.
It took us days and days to bury them.
We did what their families would have done.
We put flowers on their graves and we shed tears for them."
Our son, Private First Class Frank L. Lusk,
Army Serial Number 37283898, a paratrooper,
was killed June 19th, 1944,
in the invasion of Normandy, near Vinda Fontaine.
He was to be buried in the 82nd Airborne Cemetery,
near Sainte Mère Église.
Would you try to find his grave
and let us know if he is buried there?
We would be so grateful to you,
if you could tell us about his grave and the cemetery.
Please excuse us for taking this liberty of writing to you,
but we know you will understand how we feel.
Thank you so much.
Sincerely, Mr. & Mrs. Frank E. Lusk.
When Michel de Vallavieille was asked
why he thought he was shot, his answer was remarkable.
First part of the story is the pain that you feel,
because you've lost so much.
But then, along the years,
and through commemorations, the same Normans,
they started to realize that they suffered,
but the Americans suffered.
And those young Americans, they came over, for what reason?
They didn't come to conquer. The came to liberate.
And once the job was done, they went home,
leaving on the battlefield, their friends,
who got killed there,
and so that part of the story came along the years,
through the commemorations.
We started to realize that we had suffered,
but those guys, I mean, they did not have to suffer.
It was unjust to us to lose our parents,
but how just was it for them
to also get maimed and lose their friends,
and it was not their country,
so why did all these young Americans come over?
And that is the second part of the story,
that along the years, we started to learn.
And we started to look into the heart of these guys,
you know, "Why did you come over?"
That's what those people started to ask the veterans,
you know, "Why did you come over?
You were 16, 17, 18, 19 years old,
and you spent the best part of your youth
fighting for a cause?
Eventually, it became yours, but at the beginning,
that was not your problem,
the problem between France and Germany.
This is unbelievable."
And this message, I think,
the French people understood along the years,
maybe not in 1950, maybe starting in 1960,
with the movies, they started to realize
that they suffered, they were not the only one.
I was told by those in Normandy,
that it took the distance of time
before veterans began to return.
They would come to retrace their footsteps,
find French citizens who'd helped them,
and see what had become of the country they helped liberate.
Many of the people I met
were honored to serve as their guides.
Profound and emotional moments
happen regularly with the French in Normandy.
Marie-Pascale Legrand told me
about her life-changing moment.
I discovered Marie's passion to repay her debt
moved her to care for one of our most beloved American heroes,
First Division Medic, Charles Shay.
Flo Plana's gratitude to the veterans
began at a very young age,
when he discovered he wouldn't even exist,
if the Allies hadn't liberated his grandfather
from a German work camp.
Over the past few years,
Flo has spent time in the United States,
traveling around the country,
in search of World War II veterans.
His mission is to thank them, photograph them,
and record their stories for a museum
he hopes to build in Normandy,
so they will never be forgotten.
Later that day,
Flo learned that a World War II veteran was passing by
and was willing to share his story.
So, I followed him, to see what he was talking about.
- Come on in. - Hello.
- Bob Freesen. - Nice to meet you.
I'm Flo. Yeah, Florent, but you can call me Flo.
- Okay. - I'm from Normandy, France.
- Really?
Hard to believe you're a World War II veteran,
you look so young!
- Well, you speak good English, too!
- Yeah.
It's so nice to meet you!
Do you remember when you arrived in your outfit?
- When I what?
- When you arrived in the unit? Do you remember?
- Oh, yeah, I remember.
- When was that? December?
- January of '45.
- January '45, okay. - In Belgium.
- During the Battle of the Bulge.
- Yep.
Went to Belgium- - Yeah.
- And was given an M1 Rifle
full of cosmoline and a can of gasoline,
and says, "Clean it up, you're gonna need it."
And I did. - Wow.
Wow.
- And it was cold.
- Yeah. That was one of the worst winters, actually.
- Yeah. - Wow. That's great.
- I slept a lot of nights in the foxhole
and wake up in the morning with snow all over me.
- Wow.
- Wow, so is that okay,
if we just set up some of my equipment and lighting,
and ask you a few questions? - That's fine.
- Wow. That's so cool. - Where do you want me?
- They won't believe us,
when we're gonna say you're 92!
They're going to say, "Nah, he's not 92, he's younger."
I would like to thank you very much
for what you did a long time ago,
to free the citizens of Europe.
My grandpa was in a working camp for two years, until 1945.
He was freed in April,
thanks to you and your generation.
So thank you very much.
- Oh. You're welcome.
I remember sleeping on the ground at night,
and that they give us a steel helmet
and that was one of the most versatile things in the war.
We used it to cook with, for a potty,
or for many things, dig a fox hole.
- I heard a lot of stories about the helmet.
Used to shave. - Yep.
- Bathroom. - Yep.
- To cook. - Yep.
- Did you use it for everything as well?
- Yep.
I remember then after The Bulge,
when we walked many miles every day.
And some days, we'd get a chance to ride on British tanks,
and we would get on the tanks and ride.
But when it come time for tea,
they would stop the tanks and have tea.
That's the truth!
- See, I was wounded in the left leg.
I'd be in pretty good shape,
if I hadn't got the wound in the left leg.
Which was what I call my million-dollar wound.
- Wow.
Could you tell us what those mean, "A million-dollar wound?"
- I sure can!
It meant that you were wounded enough
that you were disabled and weren't gonna go back
to the front line.
- You were coming home.
- So I've been a millionaire ever since November 8, 1944.
So. Here we go!
Now I want you guys to listen.
Get here and listen.
Right here, I was person of the year in Ithaca.
So there's the plaque on that. 2001.
Following Flo around as he visited
and interviewed veterans, taught me something,
something so simple and yet so profound.
The simple act of caring, asking thoughtful questions,
showing genuine interest in these former service members,
and then actually taking the time
to listen to their stories,
is the greatest act of love and honor
these veterans could ever hope for,
and one they so richly deserve.
- We're so happy to be here with you today,
so thank you very much.
- Well, thank you for being here.
- And so, Ceo, could you tell us where you were born
and when, a little bit about your youth,
and how you ended up in the Army?
- Well, my name is Ceo E. Bauer,
and I am almost 95 years old.
I was born on a farm at Carson City, Michigan,
on May 21st, 1923.
- Ceo, you just mentioned before that, for you,
it's better for them to be buried
in a military cemetery overseas, where they fought.
Mm-hmm.
- Could you just tell us, with your own words,
why do you think it's better to be buried, for example,
in a military cemetery, you know, like your friend?
- Because it's better taken care of.
It's where it will be visited in the future,
by both the French and citizens of the world.
And it's where his relatives or descendants,
if years later, if they decide they want to go to Normandy.
I recommend everybody goes to Normandy.
They should, in order to understand France
and understand World War II.
Probably for we veterans that went back,
probably the greatest experience we ever had in our lives.
You know, I just couldn't believe what occurred
when we got to the first liberation ceremony in Metz.
But then in the city square,
they hold a ceremony there like you wouldn't believe.
They play the "Marseillaise," the French Army,
the U.S. Army,
our national anthem, you know,
hell, they play the "Star Spangled Banner"
and the "Marseillaise" about three or four times.
"Oh we're gettin' it again!"
One after the other, you know.
And the people are there, and they want to talk to ya.
For the French, if we can get where the fighting was,
like Mézières, where they were blown down,
and where they know, they can't honor us enough.
But here in the USA,
people are not too much interested.
Their eyes glaze over.
Nobody would listen to me,
if they don't know me,
or they aren't motivated to be, historically.
Ah, two minutes would be the most.
Right now, people, for all veterans, all wars,
tend to say, "Thank you for your service."
Well, that's all very fine.
But then they don't listen after that.
Well, I'll say, vive la France.
Long live the USA.
And...
thank you, God, for being alive to relate the story.
That's a short prayer, by the way.
I make 'em all the time.
I watched something magical happen
when World War II veterans return to the forests,
beaches, fields, and villages where they fought.
As they share their stories,
some for the very first time,
they were listened to, embraced, and adored.
Colonel David Chapman
of the U.S. Embassy in Paris,
works with French officials,
to plan and carry out the D-Day ceremonies.
He told me that he's met many veterans over the years
and has seen this transformation first hand.
A lot of the soldiers who come back
don't know what to expect,
and maybe they did a lot of damage,
but all it takes is one day, particularly in Normandy,
and to be surrounded by the love,
and all the caring of the modern day, Normandy citizens,
I think, to change all of that.
Some veterans I met,
like the 10th Armored Division's Bob Weber,
1st Division Medic, Charles Shay
and Easy Company Medic, Al Mampre,
have been to France many times,
and they understand the deep gratitude
of those they helped to liberate.
Having been back a few times,
on these trips where the French invite veterans
to return and enjoy their hospitality,
they can't do enough nice things for Americans.
They are eternally grateful.
And even the younger generations,
who have no firsthand memory of World War II,
they've been taught to appreciate what America did for them.
They were very proud to meet all of the Americans.
But as I had said before, it was not only the Americans
that participated in the invasion,
there were very many other nations.
But the first people were very receptive,
even from the little children onto the oldest residents.
Some of them were as old as the Gls
that were returning to visit France.
Well, I believe, in Normandy, you have a unique situation.
In that, they really appreciate the Americans.
They love Americans, a matter of fact.
And we like them too.
It's a mutual admiration society.
I think they have a lot of faith in us.
It hasn't diminished.
I mean, this attitude towards us,
and our having played the part we had in their salvation,
in a way, that hasn't diminished one bit.
It's got a different meaning,
when you've been under occupation by an enemy for years,
and then suddenly you're liberated.
So, yep, liberation has a whole different meaning
to those people.
They all hug you, they all want autographs.
And I always, not only autograph,
hundreds and hundreds of them,
and not only do I give them their autograph,
but I talk to each single one of them,
and I find out about their families and their sons and this...
And they wait that long in line sometimes,
to get autographs, and I think it's only right
that we relate to them in a more personal way, you know?
And it's really rewarding.
We get to know each other,
and that's the important part, I think,
American and French knowing each other.
They're a wonderful people.
Other veterans I met, going for the first time
were a little apprehensive,
and felt like they didn't deserve the attention.
I would have liked to come over,
but I never dreamed that I would.
I just can't imagine anybody having that kind of desire
to be concerned with what little I know.
3000, 4000.
All right. Round Canopy, looks good!
- Can you imagine all of this?
- It's crazy, but it's all for you, sir.
- Oh. - It's all for you.
- When we saw the kids here in the school,
and I just, hard to believe.
You'd think that you were the King of Egypt
or something. - They do. They do.
- I know.
- It's one thing, I think, that the French grandparents
who were your generation, passed it on to their kids,
who now passed it onto the next generation of kids.
- I think they did.
- And that's why you see them out here doing this.
- Look at this. Thousands of people here.
- Got some Americans here too, but it's mostly French.
- But if we did the same thing in the States,
you'd have a crowd right next to the drop zone
and that's about it. - That's about right.
- Yeah. - That's about right,
but this is hallowed ground, certainly here,
up at Iron Mike, where the big fight went on.
- Yeah. - And everything
that your generation did to make sure
that I could land here safely.
- Oh.
- You know, we jumped with Germans on this jump.
- Ah... no. - We did.
We jumped Romanians, Germans, Dutch, French.
- Isn't that amazing.
- So it's hopefully a bigger better world today than it was.
We did it for you.
- Ah, I think we did it for you guys.
You guys-
- To keep me going, to keep my child going.
- Ah. That's great.
- So thanks for everything you mean to us.
I appreciate it.
I noticed that it didn't matter
whether veterans thought they were special or not,
they are heroes to the French in Normandy.
It's a wonderful thing.
It's just an exciting example of friendship.
I watched the French
go beyond thanking the veterans of the Allied nations
and act as agents of healing and reconciliation,
by inviting German veterans and their modern day units
to join the commemorations.
German and American veterans
who once fought each other on French soil,
now come together to celebrate liberty.
At the same time, I saw modern-day soldiers
from America, France, Germany and the other Allied Nations
standing side-by-side to honor them.
It felt like all of Normandy came together
to show their love and appreciation
to veterans and their families.
Ceremonies I attended, like those held
at the Normandy American Cemetery, Utah Beach,
and Major Dick Winter's Memorial,
remember and honor the men and women
who fought and died for liberation.
Others like those held at Angoville-au-Plain,
the Cabbage Patch, and Ravenoville,
mark significant battles that paved the way for freedom.
I sat with government officials,
soldiers, veterans, and civilians,
and watched them share stories, renew bonds,
and create new friendships.
Music, dancing,
and fireworks displays
express the joy of freedom
at events such as the Carentan Garden Party
and the Liberty Ball.
I enjoyed watching French citizens dressed as Gls
or civilians from the 1940s, in parades,
in Sainte Mère Église
and Carentan.
Parachute jumps at La Fière
and Purple Heart Lane
and re-enactments like the Exodus
and La Barquet
that gave everyone a chance
to experience history more vividly.
The efforts the French make to honor their liberators
and remember the past,
have not been lost on the modern-day soldiers
and other Americans who take part in these events.
My son Hunter told me one of the most memorable events
for the modern-day soldiers is the soldier dinner.
What happened was,
is that we were informed that we would essentially
be lotteried off to French families.
So, we arrived in town,
we participated in the lottery,
and a French family that drew your name
would host you for the evening.
They'll take you to dinner
or cook you dinner in their homes,
and you get to establish relational ties with these families,
and learn more about them and their history.
There was a language barrier, but it was fun trying to learn
how to communicate with this family.
So, I was lucky to have been chosen by the LaColley family.
They were very excited
to show me French food or French alcohol.
Everything they did was very energized.
This dinner was very impactful on me.
I had never heard first-hand accounts from World War II,
much less from civilians during World War II.
I remember how important this dinner was.
How important it was for these French families to host us.
I remember a sense of warmth and openness.
And I could feel how important it was to them.
The D-day commemorations here in Normandy
are absolutely invaluable to keeping the memory alive
between Normandy and the United States,
and especially for the American people to understand
what the French people do for us
and do for service members while we're here in France,
and especially the veterans who come back each year,
and finally get a chance to come back to the area
that they liberated 75 years ago.
After spending time in Normandy,
after seeing the reactions of the free French,
after seeing how important liberty was to them,
after seeing how grateful they were to America,
it gave me a deeper perspective
about the lasting impacts of American intervention overseas,
about America liberating other countries.
The French honor the veterans here
and honor the American troopers who fought and died here,
and I feel like if the French are gonna do that,
it's really important for me to be here
and thank them for that.
It's, you know, it's too easy to forget this,
especially the further we get from it.
I don't think you understand the full impact
of what happened here,
unless you're on the ground at the sites,
and you not only see the place where things took place,
but you see how deeply the French still remember
and feel about their liberation.
There are the French people,
and there are the Normans.
The Normans: they love, they have cared.
And that onslaught of American spirit
infused them from the start.
And no matter what conflicts we have,
what political differences there are,
this is a thing that you can't describe in words,
but it's here and it wraps us together as one.
I discovered that when veterans
returned to Normandy to visit the land they once liberated,
they formed strong bonds
with the grateful French people they met.
These relationships were so meaningful,
many veterans wish to have their ashes scattered
on the beaches where they landed.
Jim Reid at the 90th Infantry Division,
who landed on Utah Beach, was one of these.
His final request to have his ashes scattered on Utah Beach
made sure the most important loves of his life,
his wife, Rhoda, the de Mondésir family, and Normandy
would be together again after he was gone.
They call him Jimmy.
So for them, I call him Jimmy.
When he passed away, it may have been harder on them
than it was on me,
because they had not seen him since 2004.
And he loved them so much.
And he made me promise two things:
that I would put some of his ashes on Utah Beach,
but that I would go back to France and see the de Mondésirs.
And it's a forever bond.
And he loved to come here,
to be able to talk to the French citizens.
So for him, to come here, was like, in a way, coming home for him.
What happens in the future
is in the hands of the next generation.
French survivors have prepared
their children and grandchildren
to continue to remember, be grateful,
to stand up for freedom and welcome those who fight for it.
You mentioned the children.
They are especially important, because these kids,
they don't have any idea of what happened.
And the only way they learn
is from their parents and their grandparents,
who bring them to Sainte Mère Église,
or to all the different locations and commemorative events,
and they teach them on the spot:
"This is what happened."
So, we are growing generations of really wonderful
and thankful French citizens for the near future.
But those same children will grow up,
probably 25, 30 years from now
and have children that they'll continue
to bring to the squares and the cemeteries
and tell the stories over and over again.
Dany was an innocent spirit,
wrapped in the symbol of freedom.
She represented rising hope for the future
of an Allied peace.
The colors of red, white, and blue
fueled the dreams of a little girl finding hope
in the eyes of battle-torn Americans,
who found their hope in the eyes of the girl
who proudly wore the symbol
of the freedom they were fighting for.
Those Americans changed her life forever,
and she will never forget them.
I learned from the people of Normandy
that gathering in groups of family and friends,
to celebrate and remember,
is central to passing on the core truths
and values of these stories,
enshrining these lessons of the past
in our collective memory,
the pain of war,
the price of freedom,
and the preciousness of life's simple pleasures.
It helps us to never forget,
and reminds us of the importance
of love, gratitude,
and freedom.
Values that will have ripple effects
for generations to come.