ErichRaulfestone
06/23/02 06:59 PM
164.76.107.198
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CAEN, France — France held solemn ceremonies Thursday as American veterans visited
cemeteries in Normandy to honor thousands of fellow soldiers who died in the Allied
campaign to liberate France, and
eventually Europe, from the Nazis.
Wreaths were laid and religious ceremonies were held along the coastline to
commemorate the
58th anniversary of the D-Day landings, the first breach of Hitler’s Atlantic wall.
With tourists and French schoolchildren standing by, hundreds of veterans retraced
some of their steps along the beaches where thousands were gunned down in a
deafening hail of German machine gun and mortar fire.Veterans also visited the
Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, where 9,387 U.S. soldiers are buried.
For many the memories were still painful.
“It’s kind of hard at the cemetery, but it’s part of my life,” said 78-year-old veteran Bill
Tucker of Boston, who has visited the graves of six friends buried at the cemetery
nearly a dozen times. “I’m getting old myself, but I figure that as long as I can get out
here, I’ll do it.”
The first ceremony of the day took place at the famed Pegasus Bridge, the first French
bridge to be liberated by Allied Forces on June 6, 1944 in an early-hour surprise attack.
“I will never forget it,” said Wally Parr, 80, of Milwaukee, who drank champagne with
other veterans in front of a statue honoring British Maj. John Howard, whose troops led
the attack. “In a few minutes, we took our objective and wiped out the German
garrison.”
About 100 French and American parachutists dropped from the sky at Ranville to honor
the Allied parachutists of D-Day. A similar display is set for Saturday, when up to 130
parachutists from the United States, Britain, Canada, the Czech Republic and Denmark
are to descend on Sainte-Mere-Eglise, the first French city to be liberated.
About 60,000 Americans landed on the Normandy coastline on D-Day, most of whom had
no experience of combat. They fought alongside thousands of others from Britain and
Canada. Flags of the three countries, and the French Tricolor, decorated Normandy
streets Thursday.
Erich Raulfestone
Erich Raulfestone
Rangers, Lead the Way!
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"
And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"
Isaiah 6:8
......and I went......
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ErichRaulfestone
07/21/02 09:42 PM
164.76.107.168
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Thandk God for the Rangers!!!! 
Erich Raulfestone
Rangers, Lead the Way!
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"
And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"
Isaiah 6:8
......and I went......
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