Today is the 80th anniversary of D-Day. I am writing about it in this blog and my Cooter's History Thing Blog.
Along with the men parachuting into German-occupied France early morning of June 6, 1944, were men making hair-raising descents in gliders. (Now, I think that would be more scary than parachuting.) The goal of both groups was to secure roads, bridges and other strategic points inland of the invasion beaches and destroy gun emplacements that raked the sands and ships with deadly fire.
The re-enactor parachutists took off Sunday from Duxford, England, for the 90-minute flight to Carentan. This Normandy town was the heart of D-Day drop zones in 1944.
Sunday's jumpers were from an international civilian team of parachutists, many of them former soldiers. The only woman, 61-year-old Dawna Bennett, felt history's force as she exited the plane.
"It's the same doorway and it's the same countryside from 80 years ago, and it's like, 'Oh my God, I'm so thankful I'm not doing this at midnight," she said.
--GreGen
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