Tour of Honor

Generally ending in zero or five, they are known as "milestone years." At year 20, Dwight Eisenhower and Walter Cronkite crossed the English Channel to northern France and jeeped along the beaches and coastline, taping a special news report recalling the world-changing events of June 6, 1944.

At D-Day-plus-25 years, in 1969, U.S. veterans poured into Normandy to revisit the tiny stone towns and hedgerow-stitched farms they had liberated from four years of Nazi occupation; parades, ceremonies, concerts, parachute jumps and battle re-enactments pulsated across the region and soon became annual events, as they are today.

At 40, 50 and 60 years, world leaders took the podium at Pointe du Hoc and the Normandy American Cemetery above Omaha Beach. They spoke of the sacrifices in blood that ultimately saved Europe from Hitler's tyranny and led to the end of World War II.

For the 65th anniversary on June 6 of this year, allied heads of state once again found themselves on French soil, delivering remarks while those who attended were quietly aware that this may be the last milestone year for many U.S. veterans who fought on D-Day.

When making plans for their annual tour of Europe-based military commands, American Legion National Commander David K. Rehbein and American Legion Auxiliary President Desireé Stoy made it a point to be in Normandy and participate in 65th anniversary ceremonies.

"There were an estimated 288 D-Day veterans honored at Omaha Beach this year," Rehbein said. "I know that there are hundreds more in the United States who could not make such a long trip, but as time marches on, the number of actual participants and eye witnesses will decline and then some day fade away. Our sacred obligation is to make sure D-Day, and everything it means in history, is never forgotten. Millions gave their lives during World War II. Tens of thousands died fighting on June 6 and in the weeks that followed. Future generations, long after the last World War II veterans are gone, must always understand what happened here and why."

U.S. President Barack Obama, France President Nicolas Sarkozy, Canada Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and Great Britain's Prince Charles and Prime Minister Gordon Brown appeared before the famed statue, "Spirit of American Youth Rising From the Waves," flanked by D-Day veterans, and addressed a crowd of approximately 9,000 under cloudy skies at the cemetery. They each laid wreaths at the statue, as did Rehbein and Stoy in a separate ceremony on June 7.

President Obama explained that the story of D-Day is written in the narratives of veterans like Zane Schlemmer, 82nd Airborne Division, who parachuted into a marsh far off course from his landing zone. Separated from his unit, he singlehandedly fought his way back to the town he was assigned to help liberate. Obama also told of Pvt. Carlton Barrett, who waded in and out of the bloody water to save wounded and drowning men trying to come ashore in a torrent of enemy fire.

Obama took special note of Jim Norene, a D-Day veteran of the 101st Airborne Division who had made the trip to Normandy for the 65th anniversary. "Last night, after visiting this cemetery for one last time, he passed away in his sleep," Obama said. "Jim was gravely ill when he left his home and knew that he might not return. But just as he did 65 years ago, he came anyway. May he now rest in peace with the boys he once bled with, and may his family always find solace in the heroism he showed here."

"Those who risked everything here 65 years ago demonstrated that although tyranny may suppress, it cannot endure forever," Brown said. "They proved that dictatorship may for a time have the power to dictate, but that it will not in the end decide the course of the human journey."

"I think the leaders of the four allied countries - France, Great Britain, Canada and the United States - did an excellent job representing their people, their veterans and expressing the true meaning of D-Day," Rehbein said following the ceremony at the cemetery where 9,387 heroes are laid to rest.

During the anniversary weekend, Rehbein and Stoy also placed wreaths in Ste. Mere-Eglise, the first French town liberated by the Allies, and in a ceremony near LaFiere Bridge, where one of the war's bloodiest small-arms battles was fought shortly after D-Day.

Tight security due to the appearances by four major heads of state delayed The American Legion's Normandy Cemetery ceremony until the morning of June 7. However, the shift in schedule paved the way for the commander to meet with members of the Holland, Mich., American Legion Band, which had raised more than $200,000 to travel to France and perform at various locations for the 65th anniversary. They attended the wreath-laying ceremony by the commander and president and then gave a performance.

The commander said he was deeply struck by the reception American veterans receive in Normandy, where the U.S. flag flies above the France flag around the anniversary each year, and tourists come to tiny towns and villages driving Willys Jeeps and wearing vintage U.S. uniforms. "I am especially impressed with the French people I have met and with the respect they continue to demonstrate for Allied sacrifices during the war," Rehbein said.

Stoy said the culture of gratitude was especially visible at the Omaha Beach ceremony. "There was a French woman seated near the national commander who turned to him at least three times to say thank you," she said. "It was really heartfelt."

Following the D-Day anniversary ceremonies, Rehbein and Stoy traveled to Belgium to visit Flanders Field American Cemetery in Waregem and to place wreaths in memory of American heroes of World War I, 368 of whom are buried there. The commander and president also took time to visit other World War I memorial sites in the Ypres region, where U.S. soldiers were vital to ending the war in the fall of 1918. The Flanders region of Belgium inspired Lt. Col. John McCrae, M.D., to write the famed poem, "In Flanders Field," which triggered the movement to use poppies to raise funds for veterans for decades to come, and to this day.

In Waregem, Stoy and Rehbein learned of an 85-year-old local tradition in which local schoolchildren learn to sing "The Star Spangled Banner" and perform it each year for Memorial Day services at the Flanders Field Cemetery.

Earlier in their trip, as they traveled toward Normandy from U.S. military installations in Germany, Rehbein and Stoy visited the Meuse-Argonne Cemetery, 26 miles northwest of Verdun, where some of World War I's deadliest fighting occurred. With 14,246 graves, the Meuse-Argonne is the largest U.S. military cemetery in Europe. The memorial there is under a major renovation, which Rehbein said "is really good to see. It tells you they are really working hard to keep things up over there.

"It's so important that the heroes of World War I also are not forgotten, even though their graves are nearly half a world away from America, and there may be no more than one surviving veteran left. Flanders Field is a beautiful cemetery, extremely well managed, and the people of this community treat it with the utmost respect, regardless of the decades that have passed - soon to be a century - since the Great War ended. The superintendent there told us that the cemetery gets between 10,000 and 12,000 visitors a year, and 3,000 come on Memorial Day. That means a great deal to me. It tells me that long after the milestone anniversary events no longer draw veteran survivors, new generations will continue to show their appreciation, respect and understanding of freedom's costs."

Jeff Stoffer is editor of The American Legion Magazine.

The American Legion Dispatch