Posted on: Tuesday, June 7, 2005
D-Day memories echo across Atlantic, Pacific
Advertiser Staff and News Services
On rain-whipped French beaches and across the United States, aging Allied veterans yesterday honored friends who fell 61 years ago during the D-Day landings that changed the course of World War II.
In Hawai'i, D-Day veteran Albert "Ab" Brum, 78, a longtime Kane'ohe resident, still feels the pain of loss from the massive invasion.
"I don't think (people) should ever forget those real heroes who were killed in action, basically for the liberation of France and for freedom," Brum said, his voice choked with emotion.
French and American officials planned a tribute at the Normandy American cemetery in the town of Colleville-sur-Mer, where 9,387 fallen U.S. fighters are buried.
Dozens of ceremonies were planned in France to commemorate those who fought and died on five blood-soaked beaches during the June 6, 1944 invasion that played a key role in bringing about the end of the Nazi regime.
Brum parachuted into France as a young private with the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion. His C-47 troop aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire, an engine caught on fire, and the troops were forced to jump early.
"There's no question this was a pretty hairy operation," Brum said. "You don't forget the immediate actions, and you don't forget those that you've left behind."
Nearly a quarter of Brum's battalion was lost in the first six days. His brother, Flight Lt. Charles Fairfield, flew a Spitfire and was killed in the war. Brum later became a U.S. citizen, served with U.S. Special Forces in Korea and Cambodia, and retired as an Army colonel.
Towns across Normandy marked the day with concerts, tributes and Masses. On Utah Beach, in heavy wind and rain, veterans from the Easy Company of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division honored the dead with a wreath of red, white and blue flowers.
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower had set the date for the D-Day invasion as June 5, 1944. The soldiers were loaded aboard assault ships June 4, but storms held things up, and the troops got miserably seasick.
Eisenhower gave the order June 5 to invade the following day. Most of the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion entered France on June 5, with Brum parachuting in on June 6 as a reinforcement.
About 156,000 Allied soldiers took part in the invasion.
"So often, I was almost killed," said Easy Company veteran Buck Taylor of Stuart, Fla. "But there must have been someone up above looking out for me."
A choir from Atlanta sang the French and American national anthems, and the French veterans affairs minister welcomed the aging "men of honor."
Advertiser military writer William Cole contributed to this report. Reach him at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.
