In World War II, millions of women rolled up their sleeves and worked in defense-industry factories, freeing up and equipping men for combat. Few witnesses remain who remember the storied Allied assault and history’s biggest amphibious invasion. Vets, many of them centenarians and likely returning for one last time, pilgrimaged to what was the bloodiest of five Allied landings on June 6, 1944. Schoolchildren greeted dozens of WWII vets, many in their 100s, as they arrived in Normandy to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings. Waverly Woodson Jr., a medic who was part of the only Black combat unit to take part in D-Day, was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. WWII vets are converging on France to revisit old memories, make new ones and hammer home a message D-Day survivors have repeated time and time again. 100-year-old WWII vet Andy Negra Jr. proudly lays claim to being among the last of what is known as “The Greatest Generation.” 100-year-old WWII vet Hilbert Margol was a part of the 42nd Infantry Division that liberated the Dachau concentration camp on April 29, 1945. In 1962, Dr. Eleanor Ardel Vietti became America's first female prisoner of war in Vietnam. She's still unaccounted for. Veterans of LRRP units talk about how they got into the military, and took jobs in Long Range Recon — one of the most dangerous jobs in Vietnam. By Staff Reports
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