Use controls above or click here to open this Hometown Heroes podcast in a new window
Episode #562 of Hometown Heroes, airing February 7-10, 2019, takes a cue from this week’s State of the Union Address. President Trump recognized World War II veterans Joseph Reilly, Irving Locker, and Herman Zeitchik, who all played a role in the invasion of Normandy 75 years ago. Locker, a native of New Jersey, landed on Utah Beach on June 6, 1944 with the 116th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion. Learn more about Mr. Locker in the interview below from Florida teenager Benjamin Mack-Jackson of ww2veteranshistoryproject.com:

Joe Reilly made his first combat jump on D-Day with the 101st Airborne, landing behind enemy lines at 1:40 a.m on June 6, 1944. Enjoy the video below from Zach Coco of Pictures for Heroes:

Herman Zeitchik was referenced later in President Trump’s speech for his role as one of the liberators of the Dachau concentration camp complex.
Mr. Zeitchik describes that experience in the video below from the American Veterans Center:

This week’s program also features memories from concentration camp liberators Richard Morris and Jim Sanders, as well as Oscar Reiss, a decorated Jewish-American veteran who was born in Germany, and lost his parents, brother, and grandparents to the Holocaust.