June 6, 2024 was the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings that turned the tide of World War II. It was commemorated on France’s Normandy coast during the first two weeks of June 2024 with events remembering, celebrating and honoring the thousands of American and Allied service members whose enormous sacrifices liberated Europe. It is said that during these anniversary days, “All Eyes Turn to Normandy.” Though fewer World War II Veterans are still living, willing and able to travel to France, many came to join world leaders in an extraordinary show of enduring NATO unity.
The array of international observances and locally arranged events included memorial and monument ceremonies, picnics, dances, Veteran meet-and-greets, concerts, parades of American marching bands, book and merchandise fairs, fireworks, marathons and seminars. With WWII military encampments, demonstrations, air shows and ceremonial flyovers, the numerous commemorations drew thousands of visitors, truckloads of international press and celebrity guests.
Lodging was scarce. Roads closed with and without notice. Life in the normally peaceful villages along the coast was turned upside down for weeks, even more than had been for any of the big 5-year anniversaries like the 75th, the 70th and earlier.
Heavy traffic, unusual for the often-narrow French roads, kicked up dust for days. Convoys transported reenactors and history enthusiasts in loaded down WWII-era Allied and Axis armored vehicles, jeeps, trucks and motorcycles bearing license plates with mostly B, NL, D, and UK prefixes. Military ambulances driven by jubilant medical corps-garbed men and women; their sirens screeched incessantly. 1930s vintage cars displaying Free-France and resistance flags, filled with civilians in 40s dress, drove through parking lots packed with privately or club-owned WWII vehicle collections.
Evidence of worn out, 80+ year old WWII surplus shouldered and, often, blocked roadways with breakdowns of historic (French) proportions. Rubber-necking passengers giggled, “Mind the Halftrack, Honey,” then gasped at the sight of a ditched WWII Kenworth 6-ton wrecker, its hood propped open while distraught, uniformed U.S. GI reenactors scrambled about chatting… in Dutch. Though catastrophically disabled, the truck’s olive drab paint and military markings were more perfect than the day it shipped from Detroit in the 1940’s.
Lorries carrying Sherman tanks, half-tracks and other armored vehicles slowed the highways. Vintage military vehicles filled with passengers dressed in American WWII uniforms but, curiously, were not American; they looked uncomfortable and out of place as they bounced dutifully along on thin seat padding, sans seatbelts, grasping officer’s caps and whatever else they could, with stylish scarves and headphones betraying their identities. Passing the long convoys of smoky exhaust and brake-lights, one could imagine racing up the highway to Berlin in spring 1945.
American Veterans, their families and tourists came in on buses. So many buses, so many sights. Service members from the States and American bases in Europe, and allied service members from around the globe, took part in many of the ceremonies, adding a sense of military strength, pomp and alliance to the sandy, sunbaked proceedings. The long evenings found many troops relaxing at outdoor cafes enjoying a comparatively wonderful deployment.
D-Day 80th anniversary events included a ceremony commemorating the sacrifices of Native American soldiers during WWII, held at the Charles Shay Indian Memorial on Omaha Beach in the village of Saint Laurent-sur-Mer, France. Along with a wreath laying, there was a Native blessing ceremony, a Native prayer and a water ceremony held on Omaha Beach, where 19-year-old Charles Shay came ashore as a combat medic on June 6, 1944.
The memorial plaque reads, “About 175 American Indians invaded Omaha Beach. Some were medics, others fought as seamen, scouts, snipers, radio operators, machine gun, artillery gunners, combat engineers, or observers. A member of the Penobscot Indian nation 19-year-old private Shay, also known as ‘Little Muskrat’ was a combat medic from Indian Island, Maine. Soon after dawn he came ashore near here as a member of an assault platoon. Repeatedly plunging into the treacherous sea, he carried critically wounded comrades to safety, under heavy fire . For his unselfish heroism on this beach, he was awarded the Silver Star and he continued to save the wounded until the war ended”. (Photo/Robert Turtil)
With the history of their homeland, Normands are used to this kind of invasion. Many residents are ardently pro-American and fly U.S. flags year-round. Welcoming back returning American heroes and friends, hundreds more U.S. flags are flying over these weeks in appreciation for service and sacrifice. French schoolchildren are taught their history, and residents have reached out to Americans who lost family members on their beach. Many locals routinely come to place flowers at the nearby Normandy-American Cemetery on Memorial Day and other U.S. holidays.
The sky droned with C-47s/DC-3s filled with tourists and journalists, flying respectfully over the beaches, villages and cemeteries. A lone P-51 Mustang and then a Spitfire, a formation of Piper Cubs, were all here to honor the anniversary. Huge NATO C-130s streamed past sites throughout June 6 week, rehearsing for the flyovers with which nearly every major ceremony began, or ended. Helicopters constantly buzzed the area, and folks residing on Omaha Beach would run out to wave if they thought any might be Marine One. On the horizon, a few miles off Omaha Beach, lies anchored a French helicopter assault ship stationed for security and to provide a landing exhibit of NATO capabilities.
The French police saturated the countryside and manned every intersection. English was a language they demonstrably despised practicing with Americans behind the wheel whose Airbnb was, “just beyond that varee sign, s_’i_l_ _v_o_u_s_ _p_l_a_ît_?” Patience was required. Delays were enigmatic and endless. But the days were long and the weather was stunning, while everyone was similarly drawn to this time and place of courage, sacrifice and liberation.
With U.S. flags flying everywhere, one felt bursting pride in what America has brought to these grateful people twice in the 20th century, with grit and blood, leaving nearly 10,000 countrymen resting in the cemetery nearby and thousands more in American Battlefield Monuments Commission cemeteries across Europe and Africa.
The small Old Glory displayed in the corner of our windshield drew salutes from reenactors and other celebrants we passed. It was easy to feel Europe’s gratitude for the freedom that America fights for and defends again and again, as well as the friendship of America’s oldest ally that week. We hated to leave.
More photos
Visit the online Flickr album containing photographs by VA public affairs specialist Robert Turtil of D-Day 80 anniversary events in Normandy, France, including: June 4, Charles Shay Native American Memorial Ceremony; June 6 Normandy-American Cemetery Ceremony; June 7 ambulance donation from American groups to Ukraine, and concerts and parades later that day on Omaha Beach at St. Laurent-sur-Mer; June 8 meeting of WWII Veterans with French school children, as well as images which make this time and place so special, every year.
