June 6, 2018 - The 74th Anniversary of D-Day was recognized on Wednesday, June 6th, 2018 by Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 8904 and Auxiliary members.
Members gathered before the Shelby County Veterans Memorial on the Historic 1885 Courthouse grounds to lay a memorial wreath.
Laying the memorial wreath was Senior Vice Newton Johnson Jr. Post Quartermaster Larry Hume thanked everyone for attending and gave the history of D-Day.
On June 6, 1944, 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. General Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which “we will accept nothing less than full victory.” More than 5,000 Ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion, and by day’s end on June 6, the Allies gained a foot- hold in Normandy. The D-Day cost was high -more than 9,000 Allied Soldiers were killed or wounded -- but more than 100,000 Soldiers began the march across Europe to defeat Hitler.
The ceremony was brought to a close with TAPS presented by Gene Hutto, Post Commander.
