Volunteering is Fun at the National D-Day Memorial

Hello, everyone!

Today, we want to feature the men and women who put in thousands of volunteer hours each year to support the educational mission of the National D-Day Memorial to honor the valor, fidelity, and sacrifice of the soldiers, sailors, and airmen who landed on the beaches of Normandy, France on June 6, 1944. We really couldn’t do what we do here without them!

Volunteers listening to the tour guide at the
George C. Marshall Museum in Lexington, VA

On Monday, we had the opportunity to take our volunteers who worked 25 hours or more to Lexington, VA to visit the George C. Marshall Museum and Lee Chapel. I always look forward to the Volunteer Field Trip because it is a great time to catch up with our volunteers during the slower winter season—especially, since the Memorial tends to be closed due to ice and snow in January and February—and for all of us to learn from other museums and historic sites.

If you are interested in volunteering with the National D-Day Memorial, you are in luck—We will be holding our annual Volunteer Training this weekend at the Bedford Welcome Center! We have two different dates to fit your schedule: Friday, February 26, 2016 or Saturday, February 27, 2016 from 8:30AM to noon. This is an opportunity to learn more about the National D-Day Memorial and different ways that you can volunteer here. Call (540) 587-3619 for more information and to RSVP.

Below, Ches shares about what it is like to volunteer at the National D-Day Memorial:

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Ches volunteering at the Information Table
 at the POW/MIA ceremony Sept. 2015 with
Jenny, D-Day's Volunteer Coordinator,
and Trudy, a volunteer for the Gift Store

During my final semester at Longwood, I completed an internship with the Memorial. During my internship I did everything I could trying to experience as much as possible! I worked in the Foundation's archives organizing, accessioning, and preserving history for the future. I also helped out in the Education Department. I led tours, supervised the Victory Garden students, assisted in leading student events, such as the day camps, and so much more! Once my internship was over in May 2015, I decided to stick around and volunteer throughout the summer because I truly enjoyed sharing and preserving the legacy of D-Day. My experience at the Memorial gave my internship and my volunteering so much meaning. History- learning it and teaching it- and interacting with visitors became a passion of mine, and today I can't imagine doing anything else!

In 2015, we had just over 80 volunteers at the National D-Day Memorial who volunteered 10,500 hours last year! Our volunteers bring the Memorial alive from giving visitors wonderful tours for the public and school groups to answering questions to welcoming visitors at the gate and in the gift store. Not only do our volunteers assist in daily operations, but also with events and ceremonies on-site. It is through this contagious spirit of patriotic volunteerism that we are able to ensure that the Memorial will carry on the legacy of D-Day for future generations.

 

Twila and Bill volunteering to set-up luminaries in Dec. 2015.
They also volunteer as tour guides for the public and school groups.

I am truly honored to work with wonderful, caring, intelligent volunteers who not only make everyone's day brighter, but who give their all for this incredible Memorial. You taught thousands of children, adults, and students the story of the Bedford Boys and the Allied valor, fidelity, and sacrifice on D-Day. You all are what make this Memorial so memorable. The story is impressive, but it is the volunteers who tell it that bring it alive and make it real for the thousands of visitors each year.

Thanks again for all you do!

Ches

Our D-Day Fallen: Harold Eugene "Gene" Sellers

Hello again!

We’re now less than two weeks away from our annual Flames of Memory luminary event at the Memorial. I walked in the Education Tent earlier and it was full with the 4,413 luminaries ready to be placed throughout the Memorial in honor of each soldier who was killed on June 6, 1944. If you are able to, I would love for you to join us December 11-13, 2015 from 6PM to 10PM for this event free of charge!

Harold Eugene "Gene" Sellers
Private First Class
501st Parachute Infantry Regt, 101st Airborne Division

Today, I want to honor one of these 4,413 soldiers, Harold Eugene “Gene” Sellers, and tell his story.

Gene was born in Lawrence County, Arkansas in 1922 to David and Sarah Sellers.  During his high school years, he was a star on the Jonesboro High School football and basketball teams. He received a football scholarship from the University of Arkansas but before he finished his first year of college, he decided to drop out and enlist in Army.

Gene joined the 101st Airborne Airborne when World War II began as a paratrooper. One of his letters reveals his excitement during his training:

“Dear Ruth, How’s everyone, fine I hope. I’m making it swell. We get our wings on Saturday. It’s one hell of a feeling when you jump from a plane. When you jump the prop blast catches you and sends you whirling. Then your chute opens giving you a big jerk. You come down real peaceful then to Earth. You don’t land so very hard. We have learned how to hit and take up a tumble to lessen the shock. Well I had better close, I jump tomorrow at 8:30. Bye, and answer soon. Lots of love, Gene.”

On D-Day, he was part of the massive force of paratroopers who parachuted behind enemy lines the night before the Normandy invasion. As a part of the Pathfinder unit, their mission was to set up radar and lights for drop zones to guide the incoming C-47s loaded with paratroopers.

As the unit landed, Gene drifted away from the landing zone towards an apple orchard and a group of Nazi soldiers. On June 6, 1944, Gene became the one of the first men to pay the ultimate sacrifice during the invasion. He is buried at the American Cemetery in Normandy and was posthumously awarded a Purple Heart and Bronze Star for his valor. Because of his valor and sacrifice, along with the 4,413 other servicemen who gave their lives this day, the Allies went on to free France and Europe from Nazi tyranny.

Until next time,

Maggie

Sources

Alligood, Leon. “Old Paratroopers Relive Leaps of Faith: 12 D-Day Pathfinders Reunite in Nashville for What May be Last Time.” The Tennessean, May 20, 2006.

American Battle Monuments Commission. “Letters.” Accessed November 30, 2015. https://www.abmc.gov/multimedia/videos/letters.

American Battle Monuments Commission. “Their Shoulders.” Accessed November 30, 2015. https://www.abmc.gov/multimedia/videos/their-shoulders. 

Lecture Series: The Forecast for D-Day

Hello All!

 I hope you've had a wonderful holiday season and the New Year has started out well for you. Here at the Memorial we are diving right into the New Year with a three-part lecture series beginning January 29, 2015.

The first of the three lectures is called, “The Forecast for D-Day: The Weatherman behind Ike’s Greatest Gamble”. If you have ever wondered just how much the weather changed the course of history during the war then you must join us at the Welcome Center at noon.

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As you may already know, the Allied Expeditionary Force experienced less than ideal weather conditions on June 6, 1944. The seas were rough and stormy, the sky grey and foggy. While the men were aided by the grey cover, the seas roughed them up to the point of sickness. But those conditions were better than the ones they would have faced the day before on June 5, the original landing date. Author John Ross narrates the captivating history of how an entire invasion could be moved by twenty-four hours and the outcome of such a decision if proven faulty.

The lecture will be held in the Welcome Center at 12 PM until 1 PM. There will be a slide presentation and open discussion afterwards. Admission is free, but donations are appreciated.

Hope to see you there!

Take Care,
Elizabeth

Remembering Our Founder: A Tribute to John Robert Slaughter

John Robert Slaughter Portrait Bust Campaign

The National D-Day Memorial Foundation’s campaign to honor
the legacy of the founding chairman, John Robert Slaughter.

The National D-Day Memorial Foundation has launched a campaign to honor our dear friend and founder John Robert Slaughter.  Bob Slaughter brought the same energy, tenacity, and drive to the creation of the D-Day Memorial that he displayed so many years ago on Omaha Beach, and throughout the war.  

Mr. Slaughter entered the service in 1940 at the tender age of 15 (after convincing his parents that he wanted to join the National Guard and earn extra money for household expenses).  By the age of 19, he found himself engaged in the largest amphibious assault in history on the beaches of Normandy, France.   Bob served with Company D, 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Division.  Company D was a heavy weapons company that supported rifle companies in combat.  Slaughter was wounded twice while in France and was discharged in July 1945 at which point he returned to his home in Roanoke, Virginia.  He married in 1947, and he and his wife Margaret had two children.  Over the years, however, memories of what took place on that stretch of sand in Normandy continued to haunt him.  

In 1987, Bob Slaughter declared “We have no gathering place, no meeting hall, no memorial, where our country can collect its memories and the lessons we learned from D-Day.”  Shortly thereafter, Slaughter, along with several other supporters, formed a committee to raise money and search for an appropriate location for a small memorial.  

Slaughter, far left, with President Clinton in Normandy

After visiting Normandy on several occasions, the vision for a memorial took shape and in 1989, Slaughter’s small committee introduced a seventeen-member board of directors.  The committee faced a series of challenges and a discouraged board was near disbandment when a resurgence of interest in D-Day, due to the 50th anniversary in 1994, led to increased publicity and new momentum.  

Shortly thereafter, Bedford City officials donated eleven acres of land to the D-Day Foundation for the site of the proposed memorial and an additional seventy-seven acres was purchased by the Foundation to protect the site from further development.  

Mr. Slaughter served as the Foundation’s Chairman from 1994-2001.  Congress also adopted legislation designating the site a national memorial in 1994.  The Foundation hired its first employee in 1996 and the Memorial was officially dedicated by President George W. Bush on 6 June 2001.  

Plaque outside the Youth Learning Center at the Memorial

In 2007, Bob authored Omaha Beach and Beyond, an auto-biography, chronicling his wartime experience and the creation of the Memorial.  In 2008, The John Robert Slaughter Youth Learning Center (an authentic military hands-on history tent) was dedicated at the Memorial.  That area has always been and continues to be the hub of the Foundation’s education initiatives.

Bob Slaughter was a very special man and one who was respected and admired.  In his book in 2007, Bob noted “Now that I am in my eighties, I am well aware that the long march that began so many years ago is about to come to a halt.  I am proud to say my generation helped save the world from tyranny, prevent the extinction of an entire group of people, and preserve the democratic freedoms of our wonderful American way of life.  I wouldn’t change a thing, except to wish that my dear army buddies could be here to see and touch the magnificent National D-Day Memorial that was built for us all.”

Slaughter with President Bush at the Memorial Dedication

While Bob is deeply missed, his legacy is preserved in perpetuity at the National D-Day Memorial.  We look forward to raising funds for the bust and accompanying plaque that will tell his story.

 

How You Can Help?  
Spread the Word!  
Make a donation or encourage others to donate.  

Click here to make a donation to support the portrait bust of John Robert Slaughter.

Click here to download a brochure to mail in your contribution.

Lastly, I would like to say thank you to everyone who came out yesterday to honor our nation's veterans.  It was a beautiful day and a wonderful ceremony as we came together to honor the servicemen and women who defend and protect our country.

Until next time, 

Felicia