‘Time Shall Not Diminish Their Deeds’
American Legion National Commander Mike Helm and American Legion Auxiliary National President Janet Jefford visit the grave of Theodore Roosevelt Jr. at the Normandy American Cemetery on the 71st anniversary of the D-Day invasion. Roosevelt Jr., a founder of The American Legion, died of a heart attack five weeks after coming ashore on Utah Beach on June 6, 1944. Photo by Jeff Stoffer

‘Time Shall Not Diminish Their Deeds’

(NORMANDY, France) June 6, 2015 – The bell rang. The band played. The wreaths were laid. But what stood out to The American Legion delegation at the Normandy American Cemetery on the morning commemorating the operation which led to the liberation of Europe were the stories of the men who fought it.

“This is Omaha Beach,” Cemetery Guide Jennifer Simon Longford told American Legion National Commander Michael D. Helm, Auxiliary National President Janet Jefford and other Legion family members, as she pointed to the shore adjacent to the acres of crosses and stars of David. “Bloody Omaha was one of five landing beaches and it was the toughest. Last year, I met a vet who landed on Omaha and said it was hell. He said he still has nightmares and can’t help but cry like a baby when he visits. Time shall not diminish their deeds and that is why we work here.”

A former restaurateur, Simon Langford is passionate about those who sacrificed their lives to free France from tyranny. She left the business world to be a guide at the cemetery two years ago and speaks of those buried in its sacred soil as if they were her personal friends.

“This is 2nd Lt. Marcel Dupont from New Hampshire,” she said, while standing at his grave holding a laminated photo from an old newspaper article. “Marcel became a pilot in 1943. He flew over a little village near Paris and was shot down. After the plane crashed, a priest and the mayor of Scorpain found two pictures in the wreckage. One was of the Virgin Mary and one of a little boy. The Germans arrested the priest who performed a burial mass and the mayor because they suspected them of being collaborators. During the 50th anniversary of the Normandy Invasion, the mayor remembered Marcel and asked for surviving family members to come forward. A week later, Marcel’s younger brother, Paul Dupont, came forward and the mayor brought him to the crash site. A few weeks later, Paul died. Marcel was single when he was killed. It turns out that the little boy in the picture was his little brother, Paul Dupont.”

Freedom’s sacrifice clearly hit a nerve with Jefford. “After looking at all those graves, I just said a prayer that we never have a war like this again. I don’t know how they all had the courage to get off those boats knowing what was going to happen,” she said.

“These soldiers came from all backgrounds and nationalities,” Simon Langford said. “I am very fortunate to work here. We talk about history. We talk about families. I think what they did 71 years ago they did so little boys and little girls could play on the beach here. They did it so they could be free.”