Photo By Sgt. A.M. LaVey | Paratroopers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade meet with a French family for dinner in...... read more read more
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CARENTAN, France—French families invited visiting American Soldiers into their homes here June 3 for home-cooked meals as part of the commemoration events for the 70th Anniversary of D-Day.
Approximately 200 troops from the 173rd Airborne Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, 1st Infantry Division, 29th Infantry Division, 18th Military Police Brigade and U.S. Air Forces in Europe, are staying in Carentan at the invitation of their French hosts during the week-long ceremonial event honoring the Allied landing at Normandy, the beginning of the liberation of mainland Europe from the Nazis in World War II.
The family dinners were organized by volunteers from the city hall and have been a long-running tradition.
"It's very important to have the American Soldiers here," said Sebastien Lesne, a city councilman and the event's organizer. "We are honoring the history of the [D-Day] landings as we share it with new generations of French and American young people."
Carentan’s control of canal networks in the area was a key objective for Allied forces planning the invasion, to prevent German forces from flooding the marshy farmland around the landing sites, severely impeding any progress from the beaches.
The city is strategically located between Omaha and Utah Beaches, where U.S. forces came ashore on June 6, 1944. It also provided a staging area to launch the offensive on Cherbourg, a deep-water harbor critical to bringing in heavy equipment and troops for follow-on operations.
On June 5, 1944, the night prior to the beach landings, paratroopers from the 101st Airborne parachuted into the area around the city. German resistance in the city was stiff, and the city was not finally taken until June 14th, at the cost of more than 2,000 U.S. troops and 30 French civilians.
"It's a big honor for me to be here for the 70th anniversary," said Spc. Christopher Sainz, a petroleum operations specialist with 4th Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment, 173rd Abn. Bde. "I hope to learn more about our past so that I can pass it on to others in the future."
For the majority of the troops, this was their first time in France and certainly their first time in a French home. One Soldier got to hear first-hand about the events in Carentan from another one of the guests.
"Joining our dinner with our lovely French Family was Mr. John Foight, a World War II veteran who shared a lot of stories about this place that touched us all," said Spc. Rudy Dorane, a military policeman with the 18th Military Police Brigade. "It was my first time eating traditional French cuisine - it was a great dinner and a great event."
There many different reasons why the locals open their homes to the Soldiers.
"It's truly special here," said local resident Dominque Lefrancois. "I had no interest in the war until I moved [to Carentan.] My cousin is a big collector of [World War II memorabilia,] so with my husband we started a [reenactment] association and have been hosting Soldiers every year since."
The event, the first in a busy calendar of commemorations and ceremonies, helped to build a personal connection between the families in the area and the Soldiers who come each year to pay tribute to the sacrifices of the soldiers and civilians in the area 70 years ago.
"We [were] very honored to have the Soldiers here with the families in our community," said Jean-Pierre Lhonneur, Carentan's mayor.
| Date Taken: | 06.03.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 06.05.2014 04:34 |
| Story ID: | 132131 |
| Location: | CARENTAN, 50, FR |
| Web Views: | 507 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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