UTAH BEACH, France (AP) — As the sun sets on the D-Day generation, it will rise again Thursday over the beaches of Normandy, where the waves long ago washed away the blood and footprints of its soldiers, but where their heroic deeds that helped end the tyranny of Adolf Hitler are remembered by the next generations, who again see war in Europe, in Ukraine.
The dwindling number of World War II veterans returning to France, and Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine, which dashed hopes that lives and cities in Europe would not be destroyed again, make the ever-poignant anniversaries of June 6, 1944 , the Allied landings even more so 80 years later.
As now-centenarian veterans relive old memories and fallen comrades buried in the graves of Normandy, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s presence at D-Day commemorations will join world leaders – including US President Joe Biden – who celebrate his country’s struggle support against the Russian invasion will inevitably coalesce. The terrible past of the Second World War with the charged present on Thursday.
Daybreak, almost eighty years to the day after Allied forces waded ashore under hail of gunfire on five code-named beaches – Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword – will mark the start of a day of remembrance for the Allied countries who now stand together behind Ukraine again. – and with World War II ally Russia, who was not invited by host France. It cited Russia’s “war of aggression against Ukraine, which has intensified in recent weeks” as criticism.
With the number of dead and wounded on both sides in Ukraine estimated at hundreds of thousands, commemorations for the more than 4,400 Allied deaths on D-Day and many tens of thousands more, including French civilians, killed in the ensuing Battle of Normandy are tinged with concern that lessons from the Second World War are being lost.
“There are things worth fighting for,” said World War II veteran Walter Stitt, who fought in tanks and will turn 100 in July when he visited Omaha Beach this week. “Although I wish there was another way to do it other than trying to kill each other.”
“We’ll learn one of these days, but I won’t be there,” he said.
Aware of the inevitability that major D-Day anniversaries will soon take place without World War II veterans, huge crowds of enthusiasts in period uniforms and riding vehicles, and tourists enjoying the spectacle, have flooded Normandy for the 80th anniversary anniversary.
The fairytale atmosphere, fueled by World War II jeeps and trucks tearing down hedgerow lanes so deadly for Allied troops fighting entrenched German defenders, and of reenactors playing war on the sands where D-Day soldiers fell, leave Open the question of what meaning birthdays will have when the veterans are no longer there.
But on the 80th they are the VIPs of commemorations along the coast of Normandy, where the largest land, sea and air armada ever breached Hitler’s defenses in Western Europe and helped hasten his downfall 11 months later.
Those who traveled to Normandy include women who were among the millions who built bombers, tanks and other weaponry and played other crucial roles in World War II that have long been overshadowed by the combat exploits of men.
“We didn’t do it for honors and prizes. We did it to save our country. And in the end, we helped save the world,” said 98-year-old Anna Mae Krier, who worked as a riveter building B-17 and B-29 bombers.
Wherever they go in wheelchairs and walking with canes, veterans use their voices to repeat the message they hope will live forever: never forget.
“To know how many people died here, it’s just astonishing,” said 98-year-old Allan Chatwin, who served in the US Navy in the Pacific, as he visited Omaha, the deadliest of the Allied beaches, on D-Day. .
He quickly added, “I don’t know that great is the word.”
