June 6, 2026 - VFW Post 8904 Veterans gathered with members of the community at the Shelby County Veterans Memorial in honor of D-Day on its 82nd anniversary, June 5, 2026.
Derrick Roberts, Post Commander, opened the ceremony and offered an opening prayer.
“We’re here to commemorate the 82nd anniversary of [one of] the most important days of our country's history, commonly known as D-Day, coded name Operation Overlord, and D-Day was the turning point in World War II.”
June 6, 1944, saw the start of the largest air, sea and land operation in military history.
“On December the 6 1943, President Roosevelt appointed General Dwight D. Eisenhower as the commander of the cross-channel operation. On D-Day, the Allies landed around 156,000 troops of which 73,000 were Americans,” said Roberts. “It’s hard to conceive the epic scope of the decisive battle that foreshadowed the end of Hitler’s dream of Nazi domination."
Pictured are (from left) Larry Hume, Post Adjutant; Brenda Lucas; Shirley Shofner; Theresa Hume; Dylan Roberts; Amelia Redd; Jan Ramsey; Kenneth Ramsey, VFW Post member; Mary Roberts, Post Quartermaster; and Derrick Roberts, Post Commander.
Roberts continued, "Operation Overlord was the largest air, land and sea operation undertaken before or since June 6, 1944 and the landing included over 5,000 ships, 11,000 airplanes and over 150,000 service members."
Roberts explained that after years of meticulous planning and seemingly endless training for the Allied forces it all came down to, "imagine on that day the boat ramp goes down, then you jump, swim, run, crawl to the cliffs.”
Many of the first young men, of whom most had not yet reached 20 years of age, entered the surf carrying 80 pounds of equipment, as they faced over 200 yards of beach before reaching the first natural feature offering any protection.
“Blanketed by small arms fire and bracketed by artillery, they found themselves in hell,” said Roberts. “When it was over, the Allied forces had suffered nearly 10,000 casualties and more than 4,000 were dead. Yet, somehow due to planning and preparation and due to the valor and the sacrifice of the Allied forces, Europe had been breached.”
Roberts shared that there’s no official casualty figure for D-Day, and the total Allied casualties for D-Day are estimated at 10,000 with US Forces having lost over 6,600 men. Five beaches used as entry points were code named Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword.
Those presented participated in reading aloud names of those from Shelby County who were involved in the operation on D-Day.
Kenneth Ramsey, VFW Post 8904 member, placed the memorial wreath upon the Shelby County Veterans Memorial, and Taps was played as presented by Mary Roberts, Post Quartermaster.
Amelia Redd traveled all the way from Kentucky to visit with her grandmother Mary Roberts, Derrick Roberts and Dylan Roberts. Pictured are (from left) Mary Roberts, Amelia Redd, Dylan Roberts and Derrick Roberts.
