Preserving the Past
Remembering The French Resistance
“This History Belongs To All Of Us” Researched and Written By Karen Rieser Joseph, a student of European WWll military history, is deeply passionate about military events and politics of the 1940s. He strives to interact with veterans, especially WWll veterans, study historical events, attend annual commemorations, in particular celebrations in Normandy, France.
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ormandy, France holds a special meaning for Joseph. Since 2013 he has made yearly visits. His recent travels have included his wife, Stephanie. During these trips he has visited the many memorial sites acknowledging the United States, Canadian, French, and British troop efforts in Operation Overlord. Operation Overlord lasted nearly three months culminating in the liberation of France from the Germans and advancing through Europe ending World War ll. The number of museums, memorials, and monuments in Normandy honoring those known as the ‘Greatest Generation’ seems endless. Naming just a few: The U.S. Navy Monument, Omaha Beach Memorial, Utah Beach Memorial, Normandy American Cemetery, Garden of the Missing, Normandy Beaches, American Cemetery and Memorial, and the Comrades Forever Memorial. There are so many monument sites that it is prudent to contact a travel agent for information and to get you from here to there. As a scholar of European World War II history and a frequent visitor to Normandy and its many memorials and beaches Joseph has recognized an omission in the story. Where is the monument honoring the French Resistance? There are plaques found around France telling an individual story here and there, but no monument for the role that the resistance played in liberating France and ending the war. Joseph and his team hope to rectify this.
24 – GATHER Veterans
