Ceremony honors D-Day sacrifices
GREENWICH — The bravery and sacrifice of the Allied forces that invaded Normandy on June 6, 1944 and helped free the world from the threat of Nazi Germany was remembered Thursday night during a ceremony outside of Town Hall.
A crowd of more than 60, including veterans and residents, turned out.
The event marked the 75th anniversary of the invasion into occupied France, an event that has become simply known as D-Day. American Legion Post 29 Commander Peter Le Beau, who served as master of ceremonies, called it “one of the most important days in our country’s history.”
It was the largest amphibious invasion force ever as 156,000 troops took part in what was officially called Operation Overlord. Five beaches were targeted by forces from the United States, Great Britain and Canada as they landed and started to push their way across Europe at great cost to liberate millions.
“All the intrepid soldiers that landed in France knew well that D-Day may be their last day on Earth but they did it anyway and 27,000 of them died,” Le Beau said. “The stakes could not have been greater for if Operation Overlord was to fail, which was a distinct possibility given German’s military superiority in France, the war could have been prolonged for years and worse. D-Day was successful but only at
enormous cost. The loss of life on D-Day alone was horrific.”
First Selectman Peter Tesei noted that Greenwich was not immune from the war as 160 residents lost their lives in World War II.
The featured speaker for the ceremony saw D-Day first hand. Town resident and British native William Fullilove, 94, was a member of the Royal Navy and was serving on board a LST ship during the invasion.
“LST” is short for “landing ship tank” but Fullilove said it was more darkly known during the war as a “large slow target.” Fullilove and his shipmates had already taken part in the invasion of Italy before they were assigned to Normandy, where they ferried Canadian soldiers to the beach known as Juno.
While they did not take fire from German soldiers at the landing, they were at constant risk from air attack. The Normandy landing was one of several that the vessel took part in during the course of the war. Fullilove said the ship was turned into a makeshift hospital and on several occasions the crew brought wounded soldiers back to England for care.
The ceremony was put together by the Greenwich Veterans Council and included participation from the American Legion Post 29, the Byram Veterans, the Cos Cob VFW Post 10112 and other groups.
At the end of the ceremony, Tesei and Fullilove placed a memorial wreathe by the Town Hall flagpole. The Greenwich Police Department Color Guard took part as well and a rifle salute was performed by the Byram Veterans before Greenwich High School students Chris Fiore and Nathan King played Taps on their bugles.