100-year-old Minnesota veteran makes first-ever trip to Normandy to mark D-Day's 80th anniversary
NORMANDY, France — One-hundred-year-old Les Schrenk doesn't have time for his usual morning water aerobics or afternoon bike rides this week.
That's because the World War II veteran is more than 4,000 miles from his Bloomington home, making his first-ever visit to Normandy to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day, which he spent in a German POW camp.
"I'm having the time of my life right now. I haven't even got time to think of the people back home," Schrenk said. "It's a very moving occasion."
On Tuesday, Schrenk joined dozens of other World War II veterans for a ceremony near the First Infantry Monument. Down the hill from the monument is a German bunker made of refortified concrete. It's where German soldiers would have holed up and shot down at Allied soldiers storming across Omaha Beach.
It made Schrenk think of a previous trip to Europe where he met Hans Herman Muller, the German pilot who shot down his plane just weeks before D-Day.
Muller had a chance to fire a second fatal shot that would have likely killed Schrenk and his crew, but never did, choosing to let them live. Decades later, the men met and became friends.
"That was the meeting of a lifetime. Former enemies trying to kill each other. Unbelievable," Schrenk said.
Now, Schrenk is paying respects to his fellow American soldiers who never got a chance to return home. He collected sand from Omaha Beach, a keepsake that he'll be bringing back to Minnesota as a reminder of the sacrifices that were made on this shore.
"Everything amazes me. I can't put words to it," he said.
Schrenk is joined in Normandy by Jim Rasmussen, a fellow 100-year-old World War II veteran from East Bethel.