(WWJ) — Thursday marks the 80th anniversary of D-Day, often seen as “the beginning of the end of World War II.”
On June 6, 1944, Allied forces landed on the beaches of Normandy, beginning the liberation of France.
To mark the historic day, parachutists from all over the world have been taking part in a series of airborne landings in Europe over the past week, using WWII era planes and equipment. Among them are two Metro Detroiters with ties to the Detroit Arsenal of Democracy Museum.
Director John Lind and Paul Ott, an assistant curator for vehicles and a WWII reenactor, arrived in Europe last Friday to begin making the commemorative jumps in England and France. Lind told WWJ’s Taylor Dietz it’s been “super special” to visit such an historic place.
“You’re walking in the footsteps of greatness. This is where our grandfathers and great-grandfathers fought to free Europe from Nazi tyranny. So it’s extra special to be here and not just read about it in a book,” Lind said.
Not long after parachuting into the same drop zone where American and British soldiers landed eight decades ago, Lind spoke with Dietz from the middle of Sainte-Mère-Église, one of the first towns taken by the airborne on D-Day.
He served as jumpmaster for that drop. And it’s far from his first time making the jump, having conducted more than 300 military-style jumps.
“I jumped in Southern France, but my favorite would be, I jumped in Operation Market Garden, and that is through Holland, and that is where the Americans and British launched an attack against the Germans to get to German proper in September 1944 and at that time, Operation Market Garden was the largest air drop of the entire war,” Lind said.
With jumps taking place through Sunday, other locations of parachute jumps include the Imperial War Museum in Duxford in England and Carentan, Sainte-Mère-Église and Cherbourg in France.
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