ON UTAH BEACH, France — Looking at the vastness of Utah Beach, its sand blowing in strong wind and bright sunshine, made Robert Gibson’s memory of D-Day even more vivid.
“It was tough,” the 99-year-old veteran said of the moment when he landed there on June 6, 1944 alongside more than 150,000 other Allied troops.
Gibson was among dozens of World War II veterans, mostly Americans and British, who traveled to Normandy this week to mark the 79th anniversary of D-Day, commemorating the decisive assault that led to the liberation of France and Western Europe from Nazi control.
He remembered “lots of casualties. We had almost run over bodies to get in the beach. Never forget we were only 18, 19 years old. … I’m glad I made it.”
Gibson landed on Utah Beach on D-Day in the second wave, after the assault troops. He survived to continue fighting in Normandy and eventually into Germany.
The first job of his battalion, he said, was “to guard an ammunition dump and the first night it got struck. You didn’t know where you were to go. Bullets were going all over the place. But we ducked it.”
Andrew Negra also landed on Utah Beach. That was on July 18, 1944. He returned for the first time this year and was “amazed” by the warm welcome from local French people.
U.S. veteran arrives at a commemoration organized by Best Defense Foundation at Utah Beach near Sainte-Marie-du-Mont, Normandy, France, Sunday, June 4, 2023. The landings on the coast of Normandy 79 year ago by U.S. and British troops took place on June 6, 1944. Credit: AP/Thomas Padilla
“Every place we went, people are cheering, clapping, and they’ve been doing this for I don’t know how many years,” he said.
At age 99, Negra is the only member of his battalion who is still alive. Braving the wind to walk on the beach for a few minutes, he said, “So many we lost. And here I am.”
Negra participated in combat operations until his division reached eastern Germany in April 1945.
On Sunday, over 40…
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