WWII Monument in France Salutes D-Day Sailors

Model for the Normandy monument. Courtesy Naval Order of the United States

During the opening four days of the Normandy invasion, which began June 6, 1944, one of every five GIs killed at Omaha Beach was a Navy sailor. On Sept. 27, 2008, the first Normandy monument to honor the U.S. Navy’s service and the more than 1,000 sailors who died there will be dedicated in France.

“Casualties were so high because Omaha was the most heavily defended of the Normandy beaches,” says Dan Felger, 68, a retired Navy commander and member of the Naval Order of the United States.  

For information about the dedication, go to www.navalorder.org.