Charles Shay, the 96-year-old native American from Indian Island, Maine, salutes during a D-Day ceremony in Carentan, Normandy, Friday, June 4, 2021. In a small Normandy town where paratroopers landed in the early hours of D-Day, applauds broke the silence to honor Charles Shay. He was the only veteran to attend the ceremony in Carentan commemorating the 77th anniversary of the assault that led to the end World War II. Shay was a 19-year-old U.S. Army medic when he landed on Omaha Beach. (AP Photo/Nicolas Garriga)
D-Day spirit of remembrance lives on, despite the pandemic
By Sylvie Corbet/AP
Nicolas Garriga / AP
Charles Shay, the 96-year-old native American from Indian Island, Maine, salutes during a D-Day ceremony in Carentan, Normandy, Friday, June 4, 2021. In a small Normandy town where paratroopers landed in the early hours of D-Day, applauds broke the silence to honor Charles Shay. He was the only veteran to attend the ceremony in Carentan commemorating the 77th anniversary of the assault that led to the end World War II. Shay was a 19-year-old U.S. Army medic when he landed on Omaha Beach. (AP Photo/Nicolas Garriga)
(Carentan, France) — In a small Normandy town where paratroopers landed in the early hours of D-Day, applause broke the silence to honor Charles Shay.
The 96-year-old Native American was the only veteran attending a ceremony in Carentan commemorating the 77th anniversary of the assault that helped bring an end to World War II.
Pandemic travel restrictions have prevented veterans or their families from attending this year’s D-Day commemorations.
French residents and officials are taking part on their own.
Thousands were killed in the June 6, 1944 D-Day invasion by U.S., British, Canadian and other allied troops to liberate France from the Nazis.
On Saturday, dozens of World War II vehicles, from motorcycles to jeeps and trucks, gathered to parade near Sword Beach.
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