'We would not be here if not for them'

Claudiu Oltean, a jumpmaster and member of the U.S. Army's 10th Special Forces Group, grew up under the thumb of one of eastern Europe's most oppressive regimes: Romania. In 1999, he made his way to the United States and joined the Army to fight for the freedom of others. Saturday, he was emotionally struck to come into the company of a living military ancestor who fought for the same reason in 1944: 92-year-old Bob Noody of New York.

"I know what it means to not be free," Oltean said during the annual Amis des Veterans Americains (Friends of American Veterans) banquet in Ste. Mere-Eglise, Normandy, France. "I know what having nothing means."

Noody jumped into Ste. Mere-Eglise with the 101st Airborne Division on June 6, 1944, in advance of the Allied beach landings in Normandy that broke through Hitler's Atlantic Wall and began a bloody, deadly 11-month march that led to victory in World War II's European Theater. He was 19 years old on the night he sprang from a C-47 and landed in what would become the first city liberated in the D-Day invasion. "All the firing that was going on out there, I just wanted to get the hell out of there," Noody said at the AVA banquet, where American Legion National Commander Dale Barnett and American Legion Auxiliary National President Sharon Conatser had head-table seats and received honorary memberships in the French organization. "I never was scared, that I remember. We were well-trained."

Oltean and Noody were among hundreds of active-duty troops and a dwindling few World War II veterans at the banquet who made connections across generations. "Men like him made it possible for me to be here," said Oltean, a combat soldier who has deployed both in Iraq and Afghanistan. "We would not be here without them. It gives me chills. This is history, man."

More than 600 attended the annual banquet, including multiple paratroopers who were scheduled to re-enact the airborne assault on Normandy the following day before tens of thousands who annually gather near La Fiere Bridge to commemorate the anniversary of the D-Day invasion.

Noody, who received the French Legion of Honor two years ago, has returned to Normandy five times. "This is the fifth.... and the last one," he said, adding that he is always humbled by the people of Normandy and their appreciation of U.S. military service, particularly those who fought and died for their liberation from German occupation in World War II. "I love every one of them. They have always been so good to me."

The World War II veteran understands the effect he has on younger soldiers, like Oltean. "But I don't like a lot of praise," Noody said, "because it makes me cry."

Oltean, emotionally struck to be in the presence of a Normandy paratrooper, watched as attendees lined up to get Nooby's autograph or to have a photo taken with him or with other Normandy campaign veterans at the banquet.