Current:Home > reviewsA mass parachute jump over Normandy kicks off commemorations for the 80th anniversary of D-Day -Wealth Empowerment Zone
A mass parachute jump over Normandy kicks off commemorations for the 80th anniversary of D-Day
View
Date:2025-04-15 02:30:08
CARENTAN-LES-MARAIS, France (AP) — Parachutists jumping from World War II-era planes hurled themselves Sunday into now peaceful Normandy skies where war once raged, heralding a week of ceremonies for the fast-disappearing generation of Allied troops who fought from D-Day beaches 80 years ago to Adolf Hitler’s fall, helping free Europe of his tyranny.
All along the Normandy coastline — where then-young soldiers from across the United States, Britain, Canada and other Allied nations waded ashore through hails of fire on five beaches on June 6, 1944 — French officials, grateful Normandy survivors and other admirers are saying “merci” but also goodbye.
The ever-dwindling number of veterans in their late nineties and older who are coming back to remember fallen friends and their history-changing exploits are the last.
Part of the purpose of fireworks shows, parachute jumps, solemn commemorations and ceremonies that world leaders will attend this week is to pass the baton of remembrance to the current generations now seeing war again in Europe, in Ukraine. U.S. President Joe Biden, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and British royals are among the VIPs that France is expecting for the D-Day events.
On Sunday, three C-47 transport planes, a workhorse of the war, dropped three long strings of jumpers, their round chutes mushrooming open in the blue skies with puffy white clouds, to whoops from the huge crowd that was regaled by tunes from Glenn Miller and Edith Piaf as they waited.
The planes looped around and dropped another three sticks of jumpers. Some of the loudest applause from the crowd arose when a startled deer pounced from the undergrowth as the jumpers were landing and sprinted across the landing zone.
After a final pass to drop two last jumpers, the planes then roared overhead in close formation and disappeared over the horizon.
Dozens of World War II veterans are converging on France to revisit old memories, make new ones, and hammer home a message that survivors of D-Day and the ensuing Battle of Normandy, and of other World War II theaters, have repeated time and time again — that war is hell.
“Seven thousand of my marine buddies were killed. Twenty thousand shot up, wounded, put on ships, buried at sea,” said Don Graves, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who served in Iwo Jima in the Pacific theater.
“I want the younger people, the younger generation here to know what we did,” said Graves, part of a group of more than 60 World War II veterans who flew into Paris on Saturday.
The youngest veteran in the group is 96 and the most senior 107, according to their carrier from Dallas, American Airlines.
“We did our job and we came home and that’s it. We never talked about it I think. For 70 years I didn’t talk about it,” said another of the veterans, Ralph Goldsticker, a U.S. Air Force captain who served in the 452nd Bomb Group.
Of the D-Day landings, he recalled seeing from his aircraft “a big, big chunk of the beach with thousands of vessels,” and spoke of bombing raids against German strongholds and routes that German forces might otherwise have used to rush in reinforcements to push the invasion back into the sea.
“I dropped my first bomb at 06:58 a.m. in a heavy gun placement,” he said. “We went back home, we landed at 09:30. We reloaded.”
___
Associated Press writer Jeffrey Schaeffer in Paris contributed to this report.
veryGood! (77646)
Related
- Daughter of Utah death row inmate navigates complicated dance of grief and healing before execution
- Colorado will dominate, Ohio State in trouble lead Week 1 college football overreactions
- Beyoncé's Los Angeles Renaissance Tour stops bring out Gabrielle Union, Kelly Rowland, more celebs
- Boy, 10, weaves and speeds on freeway, troopers say, before they charge his father with letting him drive
- Civic engagement nonprofits say democracy needs support in between big elections. Do funders agree?
- Domestic violence charges dropped against Arizona Coyotes minority owner Andrew Barroway
- Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner Break Up After 4 Years of Marriage
- Utah special election primary offers glimpse into Republican voters’ thoughts on Trump indictments
- NCAA hits former Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh with suspension, show-cause for recruiting violations
- Danelo Cavalcante press conference livestream: Police share update on escaped Pennsylvania prisoner
Ranking
- Connie Chiume, South African 'Black Panther' actress, dies at 72
- Tom Brady shares when he will join Fox Sports as NFL analyst after taking 2023 season off
- Injured pickup truck driver rescued after 5 days trapped at bottom of 100-foot ravine in California
- Inflation is easing and a risk of recession is fading. Why are Americans still stressed?
- RFK Jr. closer to getting on New Jersey ballot after judge rules he didn’t violate ‘sore loser’ law
- Best back-to-school tech: Does your kid need a laptop? Can they use AI?
- The Beigie Awards: China Edition
- The Twitter Menswear Guy is still here, he doesn't know why either
Recommendation
Realtor group picks top 10 housing hot spots for 2025: Did your city make the list?
Brian Kelly calls LSU a 'total failure' after loss to Florida State. No argument here
Danelo Cavalcante press conference livestream: Police share update on escaped Pennsylvania prisoner
Stock market today: Asian shares fall back amid selling of China property shares
Organizers cancel Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna over fears of an attack
UAW presses Big 3 with audacious demands, edging closer to strike as deadline looms
2 adults, 2 children and dog found dead in Seattle house after fire and reported shooting; 11-year-old girl escapes
Price Is Right Host Bob Barker’s Cause of Death Revealed