Decades after Staff Sgt. William Owens' heroic actions at La Fiere Bridge, his Bronze Star was posthumously upgraded thanks to the efforts of a veteran.
“It is very important for us for a soldier who lived and died as an American be acknowledged for posterity as an American. It is also equally important for us that a soldier who lived and died as a Jew, be recognized as a Jew.”
Weapons and sensitive tech captured during the ship boarding included 150 Dehlavieh anti-tank guided missiles, three Iranian surface-to-air missiles, Iranian thermal scopes, and Iranian parts for unmanned systems, among other advanced parts.
Hamilton is going to fly the plane just as WWII paratrooper re-enactors plan to stage an airdrop over Frederick, Oklahoma. The event is part of a celebration planned for Hamilton by the WWII Airborne Demonstration Team and will depart from World War II-era Frederick Army Air Field from an original wooden hanger.
With silent remembrance and respect, nations honored the fallen and the singular bravery of all Allied troops who sloshed through bloodied water to the beaches of Normandy 75 years ago on D-Day, the assault that portended the fall of Hitler’s Third Reich.
As celebrations take place in France and around America honoring the men and women who took part in that mission on its 75th anniversary, there are fewer and fewer who remember it firsthand. Grapes, 98 and living in Houma, Louisiana, is one of five American D-Day survivors to share those recollections with Military Times.