Charles Shay regretted that the pandemic "is interrupting everything." He is expected to be the only veteran at Sunday's anniversary day ceremony at the Normandy American Cemetery of Colleville-sur-Mer.
"We have no visitors coming to France this year for two years now. And I hope it will soon be over soon," he said.
Shay's lone presence is all the more poignant as the number of survivors of this epochal battle dwindles. Just one veteran bow remains of the French commando unit that joined U.S., British, Canadian and other Allied troops storming Normandy's code-named beaches.
Some French and a few other World War II history enthusiasts from other European countries gathered in Normandy.
Driving restored jeeps, dressed in old uniforms or joyfully eating at the newly reopened terraces of restaurants, they're contributing to revive the commemoration's special atmosphere -- and keeping alive the memory of June 6, 1944.
--GreGen
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