Caen, France (CNN) — At 99 years old, Jack Foy is considered the youngest among his group of friends who fought in World War II.
But their advanced age will not prevent them from making the transatlantic journey to honor their fallen comrades on the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
On June 6, Foy, a survivor of the Battle of the Bulge, and his fellow American veterans will join dignitaries and heads of state from around the world to commemorate the approximately 160,000 Allied soldiers who, eight decades ago, carried out the largest maritime invasion in the history of humanity.
Foy told CNN that he has been to several memorials in France since 2014. The emotional resonance of each trip grows stronger year after year, he said, because these veterans know each trip could be their last.
“We realize we’re coming to the end of our time,” Foy said.
They are not the only ones.
With major commemorations held every five years, organizers and government officials admit this year’s event could be the last featuring living veterans, whose stories of the horrors of war have become particularly poignant as the Russian invasion of Ukraine has returned a full-scale ground war to Europe for the first time since 1945.
“We are perfectly aware that for these centenarians, this is perhaps the last opportunity to return to the beaches where they landed, where they fought and where their brothers in arms fell,” General Michel Delion, CEO of the French government agency, told charge of French commemoration efforts, Mission Liberation.
World War II veteran Jack Foy shakes the hand of then-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark A. Milley, on the anniversary of D-Day last year. Credit: First Lieutenant Katherine Sibilla
The various countries hosting the event are now planning what is expected to be the largest D-Day commemoration in history, both in terms of size and, especially for elderly veterans, in logistical terms.
About 150 American veterans are expected to travel to Normandy, about two dozen of whom actually fought on D-Day, according to Charles Djou, secretary of the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC). independent body responsible for the management of American military cemeteries and memorials abroad. The youngest is 96 years old.
Fifteen Canadian veterans, including three or four who fought on D-Day, are traveling with the Canadian delegation, according to John Desrosiers, director of international operations for Veterans Affairs Canada. Desrosiers said the youngest traveling with the group is 98 years old and the oldest is 104.
The UK Ministry of Defense said it expects more than 40 World War II veterans to attend events in Normandy.
American D-Day veterans attend a rally at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial as part of the 79th anniversary celebrations of D-Day on June 6, 2023. Credit: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
These veterans will be joined by some 25 heads of state and government, including the President of the United States, Joe Biden, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Rishi Sunak, and the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau. Russian President Vladimir Putin was not invited due to the war in Ukraine, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is scheduled to attend, according to a source in the French presidency.
With so many heads of state in the city, security measures are intense. The French Interior Ministry reported that a massive contingent of 12,000 security officers will be deployed on June 6.
In addition, the French authorities will impose strong restrictions on movement, which will isolate the Norman coast and the normally quiet towns that populate it from the rest of the country.
However, on June 6 these elders usually cross the region for a full-day itinerary, which includes national ceremonies at American, British and Canadian cemeteries; the great international commemoration organized by France; and then, if they have energy, more local acts.
Most veterans also travel with a whole phalanx of medical personnel. The charity that organized Foy’s trip, the US-based Best Defense Foundation, is bringing three doctors and ten nurses to accompany the 50 veterans traveling from the United States. Each veteran will travel with a personal caregiver, typically a family member or friend.
Officials say extraordinary measures are being taken to treat the veterans like royalty, as they will be honored by royals. King Charles III will be present on June 6, his first trip abroad since being diagnosed with cancer, along with Queen Camilla and Prince William, according to Buckingham Palace. Representatives of the royal families of Belgium, Monaco, the Netherlands and Norway are also expected to attend.
Delion’s team has been rehearsing and timing the wheelchair courses for the international ceremony led by France. They are also considering the possibility of veterans entering at the same time as heads of state and other dignitaries to reduce their wait time.
American and Canadian organizers told CNN they would seat veterans last at their respective national ceremonies so they would be comfortable. The general public at the US event, for example, will have to be seated an hour in advance due to safety precautions.
“We take care of the veterans who served and made the enormous sacrifices they made in World War II,” Djou said.
British D-Day veteran Tom Schaffer (left) and his companion John Pinkerton review the names at the British Normandy memorial in Ver-sur-Mer, France, ahead of the 79th anniversary of the D-Day landings in June 2023. Schaffer He passed away in March 2024, at the age of 97. Credit: Gareth Fuller/PA
Keep the stories alive
After a 24-hour postponement due to bad weather, D-Day began shortly after midnight on June 6, 1944, when paratroopers descended on German-occupied France to lay the groundwork for the invasion. Allied planes and warships began their bombing raids around 6:30 a.m., and troops arrived on the beaches shortly after. They landed on an 80 km long strip of coast organized into five beaches with the code names of Gold, Juno, Omaha, Sword and Utah. The Americans took charge of Omaha and Utah. The British led the assault on Gold and Sword, while the Canadians took care of Juno.
Although 4,414 Allied soldiers died that day and it would take more than a month to achieve one of the main objectives of D-Day – the liberation of the strategically important city of Caen – the landing was considered a success. The Allied troops had managed to reach the mainland in France; It was the beginning of the end for Hitler and Nazi Germany.
American soldiers march from Omaha Beach on June 18, 1944. Credit: Underwood Archives/Getty Images
The drama of the event has captured the imagination of the American public for decades, both because of the magnitude of the invasion and the fact that it was a “digestible” turning point in the war, according to Ben Brands, a military historian at ABMC.
“World War II, especially in Europe, becomes a continuous battle from the moment forces land on the beaches of D-Day until Germany surrenders. The human mind needs to break all that down into digestible stories, and Day D is a really powerful, discrete event that is critical to everything that comes after,” explains Brands. “There are so many powerful stories coming out of D-Day.”
U.S. military personnel place American and French flags next to the graves of fallen soldiers at the Normandy American Cemetery on June 5, 2023 in Colleville-sur-Mer, France. Credit: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
Over time, veterans have played a crucial role in transmitting the stories of D-Day. Their gripping and visceral first-hand accounts are better teachers of history than any textbook.
But only a portion of the soldiers who lived through D-Day are still alive.
Of the 16.4 million Americans who served in the military during World War II, fewer than 100,000 are expected to still be alive at the end of the year, according to statistics from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. In Canada, there were only 9,297 living Canadian veterans who had served in World War II or the Korean War as of March 31, 2023, according to the most recent statistics available from Veterans Affairs Canada. The British Ministry of Defense said it does not have veteran figures at hand.
It is unclear what the average age of a World War II veteran is. Given that the median age of an American World War II veteran as of June 2020 was 93, according to U.S. Census figures at the time, it is likely that most surviving veterans of the Allied forces are now at least over ninety years old. By the 85th anniversary in 2029, those still alive will almost certainly be in triple digits.
“People are realizing that this generation is passing and it is passing quickly, and it is important to keep their stories alive, to keep the memory of those who died and are buried in Normandy, but also of those who fought and survived, because already They can’t be with us much longer to tell these stories,” Brands said.
“The 80th will be a very powerful event.”
