U.S. Military Academy, Gen. James Gavin and others to be honored in Normandy

Legion national commander to participate in commemorations, including the unveiling of a new monument and statue at La Fière Memorial Park.

Front and center during D-Day 82^nd anniversary ceremonies in France this June will be the United States Military Academy and legendary West Point graduate Gen. James V. “Jumpin’ Jim” Gavin, who led the 505^th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army’s 82^nd Airborne Division in the pivotal pre-dawn invasion of June 6, 1944, which began the end of Nazi Germany’s occupation of Europe in World War II.

A new memorial will be dedicated at La Fière Memorial Park near Sainte-Mère-Église to remember the 121 West Point graduates who fought and died during the liberation, and a life-size bronze statue by renowned sculptor Benjamin Victor will be unveiled of the 82^nd Airborne commander who made four combat jumps in World War II, the only general officer to do so.

American Legion National Commander Dan K. Wiley is among the U.S. dignitaries scheduled to participate in the ceremonies at La Fière Memorial Park. He is also set to speak and/or place memorial wreaths at the Eighth Army Air Force Monument and the Theodore Roosevelt Jr. “Statue of Liberation” at the entrance to Sainte-Mère-Église. The American Legion sponsored the statue, unveiled in 2022 and dedicated in 2023, in honor of its founding leader and eldest son of the 26^th U.S. president. Brig. Gen. Theodore Roosevelt Jr. died and was initially buried in Sainte-Mère-Église just five weeks after coming ashore at Utah Beach in the first wave on D-Day.

For Wiley, a U.S. Air Force veteran, the ceremonies have personal meaning. Six of his uncles served during World War II, including one in the ball turret of a B17 bomber who lost his life fighting in the European Theater.

Ceremonies at the Eighth Air Force Memorial to unveil the West Point Memorial, arranged by the Normandy Institute, with which The American Legion has had a close alliance for many years, are planned for the morning of June 4. The Gavin statue will be unveiled June 5, the same day as the ceremony to remember the legacy of Roosevelt Jr.

Wiley will also place a wreath and speak for The American Legion at the Iron Mike ceremony on June 7 at La Fière Memorial Park, one of many events organized by Amis des Vétérans Américains (Friends of American Veterans), the City of Sainte-Mère-Église and Operation Democracy, based in Locust Valley, N.Y.

Also during the D-Day anniversary week, the national commander plans to place a wreath at the Normandy American Cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach, followed by a trip to St. James to pay his respects at the Brittany American Cemetery.