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- A group of 60 World War II veterans is leaving Atlanta for France to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings.
- The veterans will take part in parades, school visits and ceremonies, including the official commemoration of the landings on June 6.
- The trip is being organized by Atlanta-based Delta Airlines, the Best Defense Foundation and the North American arm of French tire maker Michelin.
Hilbert Margol says he never thought of himself as a hero when U.S. artillerymen fought across Europe during World War II, but he will be celebrated in France as one of 60 American veterans of that war heading to Normandy for the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings.
“My brother and I never thought of ourselves as heroes. Never have been,” Margol said recently about himself and his twin brother, Howard, who served with him. “It was just our time. We were asked to serve, and we served.”
Margol, 100, who lives in suburban Atlanta, is among a dwindling group of veterans of the war who are leaving Atlanta on a chartered plane on Sunday for Deauville, Normandy. The veterans will take part in parades, school visits and ceremonies, including the official commemoration of June 6, the day soldiers from the U.S., Britain, Canada and other Allied nations landed on five beaches.
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Although Margol did not participate in the Normandy landings, the Jacksonville, Florida native was among the soldiers who liberated the Dachau concentration camp on April 29, 1945.
The trips will also include high school and college students selected to accompany the veterans and learn about their experiences. Charter flights are scheduled to transport veterans from Atlanta to France in 2022 and 2023.
On Sunday, a group of 60 veterans wearing custom jackets commemorating the anniversary arrived at the Atlanta airport to applause and cheers from the Dutchtown High School marching band and flight attendants from Hampton, Georgia. The veterans were then escorted through the airport to the terminal in a parade led by the marching band.
World War II veterans Andy Negra, left, and Hilbert Margol speak to each other during an event honoring their service in Atlanta on March 14, 2024. Margol is a 100-year-old World War II veteran from Dunwoody, Georgia. (AP Photo/Bryn Anderson)
Jake Larson, a 101-year-old American World War II veteran known on social media as “Papa Jake,” said he joined the National Guard for money when he was 15 and landed on Omaha Beach on the day of the Normandy landings. Looking back on his three years in Europe, Larson said he was “no hero.”
“I’m just a survivor, but I’m here to honor those who gave their lives so that I could be here,” Larson said before the flight Sunday.
He also delivered a message to world leaders: “Peace, not war.”
Andy Negra, of Helen, Georgia, landed with the 6th Armored Division at Utah Beach on July 18, 1944, about six weeks after the Normandy landings. This will be his second time back in France, having also flown last year.
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“To me, we fought for freedom, we fought for peace, and we fought for a good life,” Negra, a native of Avella, Pennsylvania, said in a recent interview.
The trip is being organized by Atlanta-based Delta Airlines, the Best Defense Foundation and the North American arm of French tire maker Michelin.
“It was our honor to celebrate and honor these heroes by flying them directly to Normandy and recognizing their incredible sacrifice and contributions to the world,” Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said in a statement.
