Flag-raising ceremony held on Long Island to honor World War II veterans who landed on Normandy nearly 8 decades ago
MINEOLA, N.Y. -- Monday marked the anniversary of one of the most significant military operations in the history of warfare.
D-Day -- June 6, 1944 -- was the day tens of thousands of Allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy, France. It spelled the beginning of the end for Adolf Hitler.
And, as CBS2's Jennifer McLogan reported, a rare few of those brave soldiers are still alive today.
There was an emotional flag-raising ceremony on Monday to honor World War II veterans who were present on the beaches of Normandy 78 years ago.
Now both 100 years old, David Wolman and David George of Long Island were part of the largest amphibious invasion in the history of warfare.
When asked if he was proud of his time in Normandy, Sgt. George, of St. James, said, "You betcha. You get a feeling when you land something might happen right away, but you don't know what it is. But you are not afraid."
His life as a teenager would quickly change. He described the first day of his landing.
"It was hell. We came across a sailor, a dead sailor floating in the water," George said.
D-Day landings marked the start of the costly campaign in northwest Europe, which ultimately convinced the German high command that defeat was inevitable.
When asked how he feels making it to the 78th anniversary of D-Day, Cpl. Wolman, of Centereach," said, "Wonderful. Wonderful. Missing all the boys I knew."
Wolman, who was an air traffic controller, said D-Day was kept secret.
"On D-Day, I was 95 miles north of London. They woke us up at 4 in the morning," Wolman said.
The big local connection to D-Day is troop gliders and that were actually built in Mineola.
Joshua Stoff, curator of the Cradle of Aviation Museum, said a nearby strip mall, which is now in Carle Place but was initially part of Mineola, bears historic D-Day significance. A factory there got a government contract to help build gliders that brought soldiers to Normandy.
"Given the technology of the time, it was really the only way to put a lot of troops on the ground in a hurry in the same place," Stoff said.
And the employees building the glider parts were mostly Long Island housewives -- Rosie the Riveters -- because so many men were in battle.
Hundreds of wings and tails that were built on the land were hauled via ship across the Atlantic Ocean and assembled in Europe.
Only five gliders remain, including one on display at the Cradle of Aviation.
"It's really a neat exhibit and a very rare artifact," Stoff said.
And it helped change the winds of war.
"We are able to be gathered here today in this room today because they saved the world," said Thomas Ronayne, director of the Suffolk Veterans Services Agency.
Nancy Wolman told McLogan she feels like the daughter of a hero.
"I do. They are the greatest generation," she said.
"I feel like I did my job," George added.
Humble to the end.
