My contact with a real war hero

Today marks the 80th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, France. So why am I writing about this in the Daily News?

Because I had the privilege of sitting behind a skydiver on our flight to Paris, France last Wednesday. The farm husband was kind enough to spend four days watching tennis balls come and go in hopes of seeing Rafael Nadal play one last time on his beloved Terra Battue, the red clay surface on which he was crowned champion 14 times. Unfortunately, he lost in the first round to Alexander Zverev, who we got to see play twice last week on the historic Roland Garros court. This means that if Nadal had beaten Zverev, my third round tickets would have included a historic clay court match with Rafa, and I could one day remember my grandchildren seeing the great Nadal play on clay.

But it wasn't supposed to happen.

Instead, the story I witnessed was that of the elderly gentleman sitting in front of me in our Economy Plus section of the flight. Because I was able to pay for both flights with points, I had just enough left over to upgrade us with more legroom. So, the day before we left, I changed seats and found myself sitting directly behind a real war hero.

Part of my love affair with the French Open comes from the fact that my grandparents were present when 17-year-old American Michael Chang won the men's title in 1989. They also celebrated the 45th anniversary of the day J during their trip, documented in one of his many World War II photo albums.

My Pearl Harbor surviving grandfather loved tennis and fishing and passed his love of the sport on to me. I know this might sound weird, but I can't help but think that my grandfather had something to do with the seat change, so that I sat directly behind this parachutist, with two knee replacements and a very strong cane, we had to help him hoist it up. the overhead compartment because the not-so-friendly flight attendant was adamant that he couldn't keep it on the floor beneath him. Every time he had to go to the bathroom or get up to stretch his tired limbs during the 10-hour flight to Charles de Gaulle, we happily helped him retrieve and return his trusty cane.

It wasn't until we landed and helped him with his backpack that he opened the bag to take out his American Garrison officer's cap worn by US Army officers during World War II (after looking through Google images I think this is accurate). He looked around while inflating his medallion hat and whispered, “Well, it's time to be official.” »

I was impressed. As I stood next to him in the cabin waiting for our turn out, I shared my grandfather's story about the USS Oklahoma and the USS San Francisco during the Battle of Guadalcanal. He knew all about midway battles and proclaimed that Guadalcanal was a tough battle. I left him behind while he waited to be helped off the plane. As we parted ways, my undignified response was, “Thank you for your service to our country. »

I was forced to look up more information about D-Day on the way to our little Airbnb near the tennis stadium because, unfortunately, I didn't know much about it other than a few war films I had watched over the years.

On this day in 1944, the Allied invasion during World War II was called Operation Overlord and was the largest maritime invasion in history. American troops are assigned to Utah Beach, at the base of the Cotentin peninsula, and Omaha Beach, at the northern end of the Normandy coast. The British landed at Gold Beach, followed by the Canadians at Juno and finally the British at Sword, the easternmost point of the invasion.

The world now knows that the D-Day invasion was a turning point in the war and would lead to the defeat of the Nazis and the end of World War II, but none of this was a given as 156,000 Allied soldiers landed by sea and air.

General Dwight D. Eisenhower, leader of the Allied forces and later elected president, even prepared a press release in which he took full responsibility if the invasion failed. “My decision to attack at this time and place was based on the best information available,” Eisenhower wrote.

Fortunately, the Allied troops won and World War II ended about eight months after Normandy, if my research is correct. President Biden and our allies are in Normandy today. I'm sure there will be plenty of live reports from the beaches of Normandy on television as the world celebrates victory over Nazi Germany.

There is one site in particular where you can follow these WWII heroes as they experience the 80th anniversary of D-Day. On Instagram, search @walkamongheroes. This is a historic travel company that offers unique trips alongside World War II veterans.

Five days ago, @walkamongheroes reported live the entry of the Olympic flame into the town of Sainte-Mère-Eglise, under the historic church where John Steele landed on the morning of D-Day. It was the first town liberated by the Americans. They also welcome hero Dennis Boldt, who landed at Utah Beach and hasn't returned since he was 20 years old. The videos are a real-time lesson about our surviving veterans and how war changed these men forever.

Finally, I have to correct my column from two weeks ago. I wrote that Ed Baker of Corning led us to sing God Bless America at the Board of Supervisors meeting. Well, that didn't happen. He actually made us join in the national anthem.

My aging brain rushed to lunch with Corning Rotary in the middle of writing a column. This is where Valanne Cardenas led us to sing, God Bless America. Sorry, Ed. Your rendition of the national anthem was on point. But my brain is not.