Jacksonville, Fl — 82 years later, Jacksonville joins Americans on Saturday to remember those who died on D-Day.
Nearly 160,000 Allied troops took part in the Normandy landings.
The We Can Be Heroes Foundation is hosting a D-Day Remembrance at 1:30 pm at the Salem Centre Auditorium. Proceeds benefit the Young Marines Program.
“Black Creek Young Marines have been accepted to march in the national Pearl Harbor Day parade in Hawaii. This is an expensive proposition to get them there. I mean, the airfare alone is over $1,000.”, said Beth Heath, president of the We Can Be Heroes Foundation.
Saturday’s event will honor retired Navy Captain Gregory Streeter, who spearheaded a project to get the only Navy D-Day memorial now at Utah Beach.
“It was a long process of raising millions of dollars and finding the just-right sculptor, and finding the rare materials to build this humongous statue.”, Heath said.
They’ll also honor the late Frank Purpura, a D-Day Purple Heart recipient. At 18, he was assigned driver of a Higgins Boat.
He was hit by shrapnel near his eye, rushed out and patched up quickly, and made 50 more trips driving the Higgins Boats to deliver troops.
Saturday’s event will also feature a movie documenting the aging men of World War II and the dedicated group of Navy Veterans who set out to make sure their sacrifice would never be forgotten.
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