D-Day’s 77th Anniversary
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Episode #684 of Hometown Heroes, airing June 5-10, 2021, marks the 77th anniversary of D-Day in the invasion of Normandy with the memories of two men who were there, and explains a new way to learn about the 2,502 Americans who died as part of Operation Overlord’s first day.
Tom Rice at Coronado, CA’s 2021 Memorial Day observance. Photo by MC2 Kevin Leitner – click here for article from Coronado Times.
First you’ll hear the recollections of Tom Rice, who made his first combat jump on D-Day with Company C of the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. Rice, who will celebrate his 100th birthday in August by again parachuting out of an airplane, first shared his story with Hometown Heroes in 2015. Click here to access Mr. Rice’s complete original two-part interview.
Vito Mastrangelo buried 458 Americans at Omaha Beach.
This episode includes an excerpt of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s radio address on June 6, 1944, which took the form of a heartfelt prayer. Click here for a link to the audio and complete transcription of that address from the FDR Library. Next year, on the 78th anniversary of D-Day, a permanent display featuring the text of that prayer will be officially unveiled at the National World War II Memorial.
You’ll also hear Vito Mastrangelo’s memories of June 6, 1944. Mastrangelo, who recently celebrated his 97th birthday, was responsible for burying 458 Americans who were killed on Omaha Beach on D-Day. He served with the 607th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company, which would end up overseeing the burial of more than 80,000 troops in Europe by the end of World War II. You can link to Mastrangelo’s complete original Hometown Heroes interview from 2016 here.
Finally you’ll hear from Don Milne, founder of Stories Behind the Stars, a non-profit initiative that seeks to tell the personal story of every one of the more than 400,000 Americans who died while serving in World War II. One portion of that massive effort that has already been completed, thanks to the grass roots efforts of volunteers, is a library of biographies for the 2,502 Americans who died as part of the D-Day invasions on June 6, 1944. Watch the video below for more on that effort:
If you would like to volunteer to help Stories Behind the Stars reach its goal of telling every single World War II Gold Star hero’s story by the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII on September 2, 2025, click here to sign up.
