06/06/2024
Normandy has always held a special place in my heart. When I was a junior in high school, then-LCDR Gene Black took me on a tour of and gave me this patch from the 50th anniversary. It was during that ship tour that I decided that I wanted to go to the . After graduation, I was fortunate to be assigned to USS Normandy, where I served for 3 years and two deployments. Ten years ago, I took my then-fiancé to Normandy to celebrate the 70th anniversary with in an incredibly moving experience where we met and listened to stories from one of the landing craft drivers. I wrote an article about the experience (link in bio). Though I was unable to make the 80th anniversary this year, we very much want to go back again.