OMAHA BEACH, France (AP) — With silent remembrance and respect, nations honored the fallen and the singular bravery of all Allied troops who sloshed through bloodied water to the beaches of Normandy 75 years ago on D-Day, the assault that portended the fall of Hitler’s Third Reich.
French President Emmanuel Macron and President Donald Trump praised the soldiers, sailors and airmen, the survivors and those who lost their lives, in powerful speeches Thursday that credited the June 6, 1944, surprise air and sea operation that brought tens of thousands of men to Normandy, each not knowing whether he would survive the day.
“You are the pride of our nation, you are the glory of our republic, and we thank you from the bottom of our heart,” Trump said, of the warriors engaged in the ultimate fight of good against evil in World War II.
Macron praised their courage, generosity and strength of spirit that made them press on “to help men and women they didn’t know, to liberate a land most hadn’t seen before, for no other cause but freedom, democracy.”
He expressed France’s debt to the United States for freeing his country from the reign of the Nazis. Macron awarded five American veterans with the Chevalier of Legion of Honor, France’s highest award.
“We know what we owe to you, veterans, our freedom,” he said, switching from French to English. “On behalf of my nation, I just want to say ‘thank you.'”
D-Day was history’s largest air and sea invasion, involving around 160,000 troops on that day itself and many more in the ensuing Battle of Normandy. Of those 73,000 were from the United States, while 83,000 were from Britain and Canada. Troops started landing overnight from the air, they were joined by a massive force by sea on the beaches code-named Omaha, Utah, Juno, Sword and Gold, carried by 7,000 boats.
The second day of ceremonies moved to France after spirited commemorations a day earlier in Portsmouth, England, the main embarkation point for the transport boats.
Leaders, veterans, their families and the grateful from France, Europe and elsewhere were present for the solemn day that began under a radiant sun.
At dawn, hundreds of people, civilians and military alike, hailing from around the world, gathered at the water’s edge to remember the troops who stormed the fortified Normandy beaches to help turn the tide of the war and give birth to a new Europe.
Dick Jansen, 60, from the Netherlands, drank Canadian whisky from an enamel cup on the water’s edge. Others scattered carnations into the waves. Randall Atanay, the son of a medic who tended to the dying and wounded, waded barefoot into the water near Omaha Beach, where the waters ran red on D-Day.
Up to 12,000 people gathered hours later at the ceremony at the Normandy American Cemetery, where Macron and Trump spoke. U.S. veterans, their numbers fast diminishing as years pass, were the guests of honor.
A 21-gun salute thundered into the waters below the cemetery, on a bluff overlooking Omaha Beach, and across the rows of white crosses and Stars of David. The final resting places of more than 9,380 of the fallen stretched out before the guests.
A group of five Americans parachuted into Normandy on Wednesday as part of a commemorative jump and showed up on the beach Thursday morning still wearing their jumpsuits, all World War II-era uniforms, and carrying an American flag. The group included Clapp, and all five expressed concern the feats and sacrifices of D-Day are being forgotten.
“If you forget history, it’s doomed to repeat itself,” Clapp said.
“I have all kinds of friends buried,” said 98-year-old William Tymchuk, who served with the 4th Canadian Armored Division during some of the deadliest fighting after the Normandy landings.
“They were young. They got killed. They couldn’t come home,” he added.
Then Tymchuk teared up.
“Sorry,” he said. “They couldn’t even know what life is all about.”
The D-Day invasion was a defining moment of military strategy confounded by unpredictable weather and human chaos in which soldiers from the U.S., Britain, Canada and other Allied nations applied relentless bravery to carve out a beachhead on ground that Nazi Germany had occupied for four years.
“The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to Victory,” Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower predicted in his order of the day.
The Battle of Normandy, codenamed Operation Overlord, hastened Germany’s defeat less than a year later.
Still, that single day cost the lives of 4,414 Allied troops, 2,501 of them Americans. More than 5,000 were injured. On the German side, several thousand were killed or wounded.
From there, Allied troops would advance their fight, take Paris in late summer and march in a race with the Soviet Red Army to control as much German territory as possible by the time Adolf Hitler died in his Berlin bunker and Germany surrendered in May 1945.
Below we remember those from Reno County who fought and paid the ultimate sacrifice in World War II:
| Arbogast, Linn S. | Sergeant | 37539640 | Reno County | Finding of Death |
| Archer, William E., Jr.. | Second Lieutenant | O-773518 | Reno County | Finding of Death |
| Baker, Everett T. | Private First Class | 37217319 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Banks, John N. | Master Sergeant | 20733373 | Reno County | Died (Non-Battle) |
| Barnes, Clarence A., Jr.. | Private | 37747071 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Barnhart, John H. | Technical Sergeant | 37236460 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Barton, Junior R. | First Lieutenant | O-696624 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Batchelor, Byron H., Jr.. | Private First Class | 37540084 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Boese, Pete | Staff Sergeant | 20733242 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Brack, Ray L. | Private First Class | 37753377 | Reno County | Died of Wounds |
| Britain, Marvin L. | Private | 37504307 | Reno County | Died (Non-Battle) |
| Britton, Dorsey L. | Second Lieutenant | O-751534 | Reno County | Died (Non-Battle) |
| Burson, Frank M. | Master Sergeant | 20733501 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Burton, Archie C. | Private | 37749566 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Casad, Fred J. | Staff Sergeant | 17099333 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Chambers, Robert G. | Private | 37302173 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Coleman, William R. | Staff Sergeant | 37153639 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Compton, Marvin G. | Private First Class | 37070337 | Reno County | Died (Non-Battle) |
| Conwill, Joseph D., Jr.. | First Lieutenant | O-799342 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Corley, Melvin L. | Private | 37725413 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Crippen, William W. | Private First Class | 37725991 | Reno County | Died (Non-Battle) |
| Cross, Stanley J. | Private First Class | 37540339 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Crumley, Oliver F. | Private First Class | 37745168 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Day, Ray J. | Private | 37011325 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Dimitt, Calvin L. | Private | 37735947 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Downing, William M. | Private First Class | 19052335 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Drake, Clyde S. | Private | 37210432 | Reno County | Finding of Death |
| Eales, Carrol G. | Private | 37742840 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Eldridge, Guy J. | Private First Class | 37153644 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Ensz, Abe M. | Sergeant | 37729358 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Ewing, Clinton R. | Private First Class | 37218926 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Field, Wayne | First Lieutenant | O-727977 | Reno County | Finding of Death |
| Fornwalt, Leslie A. | Private | 37752730 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Garner, Bill G. | Aviation Cadet | 17166666 | Reno County | Died (Non-Battle) |
| George, Eldred B. | Private First Class | 17099126 | Reno County | Died (Non-Battle) |
| Gilliland, Everettw. | Private | 17057174 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Harmon, Russell G. | Private | 37723404 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Hartley, Cleo L. | Private First Class | 20726406 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Havercroft, Kenneth V. | Private First Class | 37222020 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Hettinger, John A. | Colonel | O-005895 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Hill, William H. | Sergeant | 20733513 | Reno County | Died (Non-Battle) |
| Hirst, William N. | Private First Class | 37735473 | Reno County | Died of Wounds |
| Hobbs, Harry, Jr.. | Private | 37734349 | Reno County | Died (Non-Battle) |
| Holcum, Boyd E. | Private First Class | 6936789 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Holdren, James F. | Second Lieutenant | O-004664 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Horton, Dudley T. | Captain | O-217033 | Reno County | Died (Non-Battle) |
| Hukle, Connie L. | Technician Fourth Grade | 37504300 | Reno County | Died (Non-Battle) |
| Juarez, Ralph R. | Private First Class | 37519204 | Reno County | Died (Non-Battle) |
| Keever, Marion | Private | 37540116 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Kelly, Charles N. | Second Lieutenant | O-715545 | Reno County | Died (Non-Battle) |
| King, Marion N. | Technical Sergeant | 6865361 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| King, William E. | Private First Class | 37504406 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Kircher, Theodore W. | Private First Class | 37212232 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Kuhns, Victor L. | Sergeant | 17065168 | Reno County | Finding of Death |
| Lawrence, Lester P. | Private First Class | 37506955 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Lewis, James A., Jr.. | Private | 37534065 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Lowe, Chester | First Lieutenant | O-588997 | Reno County | Died (Non-Battle) |
| Lowen, Victor A. | Sergeant | 37789990 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Massey, Luther | Technical Sergeant | 37236779 | Reno County | Died (Non-Battle) |
| Mathein, Joseph F. | Sergeant | 6865235 | Reno County | Died (Non-Battle) |
| Meisenheimer, V. C. | Corporal | 37010822 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Moore, William L. | Private First Class | 20735014 | Reno County | Died of Wounds |
| Mosher, Beuford R. | Sergeant | 20733563 | Reno County | Died (Non-Battle) |
| Nesbitt, George, Jr.. | Private | 17027942 | Reno County | Died (Non-Battle) |
| Nett, Ralph R. | Private | 37207632 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Nicklin, Homer L. | Corporal | 37213109 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Nieto, Edward J. | Private | 37494785 | Reno County | Died (Non-Battle) |
| Outhwaite, Eric R. | Private | 37750745 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Overton, Glen E. | Sergeant | 6931707 | Reno County | Died (Non-Battle) |
| Ozbun, Harold C. | Private First Class | 37751990 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Palmatier, Walter L. | Private First Class | 37070333 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Patterson, Robert E. L. | Private | 17061931 | Reno County | Died (Non-Battle) |
| Peterson, Gilbert M. | Private | 37725969 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Piner, Robert D. | Staff Sergeant | 37536666 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Pownall, Otis M. | Sergeant | 20733201 | Reno County | Finding of Death |
| Pricer, Paul M. | Technical Sergeant | 17028276 | Reno County | Died (Non-Battle) |
| Pulse, Clyde A. | Second Lieutenant | O-437089 | Reno County | Died of Wounds |
| Ravens, Robert C. | Private First Class | 37218486 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Reid, Cleo W. | Private | 37511462 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Riffel, John J. | Private First Class | 37747051 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Roach, George T. | Technician Third Grade | 6936772 | Reno County | Died (Non-Battle) |
| Roberts, Delos V. | Private First Class | 37535678 | Reno County | Died (Non-Battle) |
| Roberts, Gilbert R. | First Lieutenant | O-696347 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Roher, Oscar F. | Private | 17129070 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Rohr, Edmund | Private | 37364951 | Reno County | Died (Non-Battle) |
| Sage, James R. | First Sergeant | 6527374 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Schmitt, Gene A. | Private First Class | 37516484 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Schoen, Frank J. | Private First Class | 37722294 | Reno County | Finding of Death |
| Shirk, Max | Private First Class | 37246349 | Reno County | Died of Wounds |
| Shuff, Edward E. | Private | 37216938 | Reno County | Died (Non-Battle) |
| Spence, Chester L., Jr.. | Technician Fifth Grade | 37511537 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Stelter, Walter C. | Corporal | 37504303 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Stratton, James P. | Captain | O-729917 | Reno County | Finding of Death |
| Struble, George J. | Private First Class | 37142198 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Thomas, Hillard B. | Second Lieutenant | O1323499 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Tiemeyer, George J. | Private | 37536713 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Troyer, Clifford G. | Technician Fourth Grade | 37268955 | Reno County | Died (Non-Battle) |
| Truax, Don W. | Second Lieutenant | O-679857 | Reno County | Finding of Death |
| Tucker, Harold G. | Private | 37535824 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Van Gundy, Frank B. | Sergeant | 26733311 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Volkland, Melbourne O. | Private | 37153560 | Reno County | Died (Non-Battle) |
| Warren, Charles A. | Staff Sergeant | 37540126 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Watson, Charles E. | Private First Class | 20733475 | Reno County | Died (Non-Battle) |
| Watson, Howard H., Jr.. | Second Lieutenant | O-732419 | Reno County | Died (Non-Battle) |
| Weber, William L. | Sergeant | 17166654 | Reno County | Died (Non-Battle) |
| Wells, Charles E. | Technical Sergeant | 37246353 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Williams, Ralph P. | Staff Sergeant | 37796008 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Wilson, Elmer L. | Technician Fifth Grade | 37016535 | Reno County | Killed in Action |
| Zongker, Orval E. | Technician Fifth Grade | 37017023 | Reno County | Died (Non-Battle) |