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Tlw U.S. Wtfc lifoitiy DMtiot lost 1,140 mm inaging veterans to mark the 60lh anniversary of the Dunkirk evacuation — the stunning operation to whisk some 338,000 Allied soldiers under German siege across the English channel to safety.In Periers, die monument was unveiled on a grassy plot in front of the town hall. It depicts Virgil Tangbom, a medic from Bemidji, Minn., helping the wounded Speese, of Philadelphia. Watching over ihem is auluiei RiciiaiJ Richtman, of Minneapolis, as Sgt Tullio Micaloni, of Oneida, Pa., gestures for his tank crew to roll forward.The four represent the approx-UllcHCtv nuni uiw90th Division who died in the assault to push German troops from the area around Periers.The first Allied bombing of the town ahead of the assault wasJune 8,1944, and by the time the town was liberated, it was bombed to ruins.Peners sat in the middle of-the German supply road and also provided Hitler s army with an escape route to the northern portof Cherbourg, some 40 milesnorth.These men gave so much to us” said Henri Levaufre, 70, a lifelong resident of Peners, a town of 2,600. Levaufre is president of a French-American groupBy Jocelyn GeckerThe Associated PressPeriers, France — World WarII veterans and their families honored the U.S. 90th Infantry Division Sunday, commemorating a monument to the more than 1,000 men it lost in bloody battles to liberate this Normandy town.Aging veterans saluted as a U.S. Army cloth was lifted from ‘‘the four brave” — a life-sized bronze statue of four young* ... * “i 1 — - Uar\l tJW ivuii'i aiww- 4 thr»u j, iv*u v*.fore Hitler’s army was driven out of the town July 27,1944.Relatives, some of whom knew the four soldiers only from black-and-white photos, stood weeping as they took video of the unveiling.*T rwytr knew my father.I’ve only'seen pictures of him,” said Ann S. Giese, 55, of Oahu, Hawaii, who was bom six months after her father, Sgt. Andrew Speese, died. She laid a wreath around the neck of the statue modeled after her father. “It’s a very good likeness, 1 think”In another war-era ceremony, Britain’s Prince Charles joinedThe Associated PressSfHtUti rwrx uic you. mtir.j; C--C 1place Saturday in preparation for the monument's unveiling Sunday in Periers, France. The two figures shown represent Virgil Tangbom (ieft) and Richard E. Richtman, both of Minnesota, who died in battles in 1944 to liberate the town.named after the 90th Division that raised $50,000 to fund the monument’s construction.This is a memorial to every soldier who has taken up arms against tyranny,” said U.S. Gen. David Bockel, commander of the 90th Regional Support Command, based in Arkansas.Sunday, a U.S. Army marching band led some 50 veterans and family members through the town streets following a Mass in the town’s vaulted 13ih centurystone church, rebuilt after Allied bombings that reduced it to rubble.Some 600 people gathered outside the church lor the monument’s unveiling, part of a three-day ceremony ahead of the 56th D-Day anniversary.Four years before the June 6, 1944, D-Day landing at Normandy. Allied troops had been beaten back by German forces and were trapped on the beaches at Dua-kirk.French town salutes American soldiers*
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Syracuse Post Standard
Syracuse, New York, US
Mon, Jun 05, 2000
Page 71
Full Page
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Anonymous A.
WI, USA 18 Oct 2021
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