Community Corner
Lehigh Valley Veterans Remember D-Day
30 veterans "honor the men who had the most dangerous mission in history."
On Tuesday, June 6, 1944, General Dwight D. Eisenhower gave the orders.
On that day -- D-Day -- 160,000 Allied forces landed along a 50-mile stretch of beach on the coast of Normandy, France.
"More than 5,000 ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the invasion, and by day’s end, the Allies gained a foot-hold in France. The D-Day cost was high with more than 9,000 Allied soldiers killed or wounded as [they marched] across Europe to defeat Hitler," according to the D-Day Memorial Foundation's website.
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On the 67th anniversary of D-Day, about 30 veterans from around the Lehigh Valley converged on Monday afternoon to commemorate the U.S. soldiers who took part in the largest amphibious landing in world history.
Morris Metz, president of the Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge, Inc. Lehigh Valley chapter, addressed nine D-Day veterans and about 20 World War II veterans at a "Remembrance Outing."
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“We’re here today to honor the men who had the most dangerous mission in history,” said Metz, who was a member of the 94th Infantry Division. “We can’t imagine the feelings they had [when they landed]... not knowing what was about to happen.”
According to Mike Micucci of the 29th Division Living History Group, the assault "was the beginning of the big offensive. There was never a beach offensive that large, never an armada that big.”
Micucci and other members of the 29th Division Living History Group in attendance wore authentic World War II military garb. They also brought along authentic World War II rifles, radios, stretchers, tents, canteens, three vehicles and other paraphernalia.
“[Our purpose] is basically to educate [people about] a specific timeline,” Micucci said, adding that the 29th Division Living History Group travels throughout the East Coast to attend events like the "Remberance Outing" in Nazareth.
They group watched solemnly as veterans were honored.
“These [veterans] are disappearing,” Micucci explained. “In another five years, there may [not be any] left.”
Following Metz's speech and the singing of “God Bless America,” two men stepped forward to read a special message -- framed and saved for decades -- from General Eisenhower on the eve of the attack.
“Where they were going and what happened next was preceded by a message from General Eisenhower,” said John Kuhn, who read on behalf of veteran Bob Frey of the 2nd Infantry Division. “It was kept as a memento by the men who were involved.”
Kuhn continued on with Eisenhower’s words:
“Your task will not be an easy one… but this is the year 1944,” the message said. “The tide has turned. The free men of the world are marching together toward victory.”
The 12 listed D-Day veterans from the Lehigh Valley are as follows:
- Simon C. Bandzi of Slatington -- 480th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion
- Raymond F. Davis of Emmaus -- 90th Infantry Division
- Howard “Bench” Hartman of Whitehall -- 101st Airborne Division
- Steve Havran of Palmerton -- 90th Infantry Division
- Nathan Kline of Lower Macungie Township -- 454th Bomb Squadron, 323rd Bomb Group
- Ralph H. Mann of Coopersburg -- 82nd Airborne Division
- Joseph E. Motil of Bethlehem -- 4th Infantry Division
- Frank Pfeiffer of Walnutport -- Military Police Escort
- Richard S. Schermerhorn of Allentown -- 531st Engineer Shore Regiment
- E. Duncan Cameron of Bethlehem -- 1st Infantry Division
- Dan Curatola of Bethlehem -- 1st Infantry Division
- Robert Gangwere of Wind Gap -- Omaha Beach Landing
