OLEAN, N.Y. (WKBW) — The D-Day invasion of France in June 1944 changed the course of World War II and the bloody event left behind a huge number of casualties.
More than 150,000 allied troops took part in D-Day but only a tiny number of those former soldiers are still alive.
One of few remaining members of the invasion force is U.S. Army veteran Charlie Brown from Olean, age 94.
7 Eyewitness News Reporter Ed Reilly talked with Charlie Brown about his D-Day memories in the attached video clip.
U.S. Army Private Richard Ross. 20, was part of the first wave of assaults at Utah Beach in Normandy, France.
Also in the attached clip, his granddaughter, Shannon Ross, shares the veteran's stories of D-Day and shows his copy of the New Testament that the young soldier carried with him onto the beaches of France.
And David Shenk, Director of Erie County Veterans Service Agency, describes the extreme measures that a fellow-VFW member and D-Day paratrooper told him about survival during the invasion.
