Today marks the 81st anniversary of the Allied Forces’ landing at Normandy – commonly referred to as D-Day.
D-Day has held a special interest for me since the 40th anniversary commemoration events. In 1984, world leaders joined many veterans in Normandy. US President Ronald Reagan delivered a reflective speech about the US Army Rangers’ climb up Point du Hoc.
At the time, given my age, I found it unusual that the commemorative activities were so extensive for the 40th anniversary, as generally, 50th anniversaries are provided with such extensive activities. The Today Show, Good Morning America, and other news outlets ran coverage throughout the morning, and it continued into the day. Many US veterans had attended, and it was one of their remarks that has stayed with me. He said that he figured the reason the 40th activities were so significant is that so many of these veterans would not be alive for the 50th. It is at that moment that I understood how something that you took for granted, our firsthand accounts of the war, would begin to slip from us rapidly. And here we are at the 81st anniversary, and I think about that gentleman and wonder if he is one of our handful of Normandy veterans still with us.
By now, you are asking what does this have to do with laser scanning? I was fortunate enough to take a group of University of Central Florida students on a World War II study abroad course in 2006. And one of the places we toured was Sainte Mère Église, where members of the US 82nd Airborne landed—including paratrooper John Steele, whose replica depicts how he landed on the steeple.
I did not have a laser scanning unit in 2006. But it has been with me ever since that trip. We have been fortunate enough to scan a C-47 that participated in D-Day. However, Sainte Mère Église is a location that I still have on my list of places to scan, and hopefully we will.
Please visit this 40th Anniversary site from ITN. While from the British perspective, it provides an excellent windows to the 40th anniversary commemoration events.