French citizens honor American D-Day liberators
On June 6, 1944, 23,250 members of the 4th Infantry Division, preceded by 15,500 members of the 82nd and 101st Airborne divisions, invaded German-occupied France at Utah Beach on the Cherbourg Peninsular in Normandy, while 34,250 members of the 1st and 29th Infantry divisions were doing the same at Omaha Beach in Normandy.
Of these 73,000 gallant American liberators, 17,409 made the ultimate sacrifice and remain forever entombed (or referenced on a Memorial Wall comprised of 1,557 names) in the American Memorial Cemetery at Colleville sur Mer (Omaha Beach), consisting of 10,944 of these fallen, and the American Memorial Cemetery at St. James in Basse Normandy, consisting of 4,908 of these fallen.
The saddened reflection on these numbers can only be lightened with the recognition that the French they liberated have not forgotten their sacrifice. With the formation of the non-political “Les Fluers de la Memoire” Association in 2000, its members’ families have adopted each and every American forever at rest in French soil with the promise to visit them and lay flowers on the tomb of their adoptee at least once a year in perpetuity. Oft quoted by these members: “It’s the very least we can do!”
Paul S. Lessig, Sparks