Sixty-eight years ago, more than 5,000 ships and 13,000 aircraft landed on the beaches of Normandy in the invasion known as D-Day during World War II. More than 9,000 Allied soldiers were killed or wounded in this battle.
Goshen veteran Jim Matousek saw the battle's aftermath and honors the D-Day anniversary every year.
Matousek arrived the day after the invasion and saw fallen soldiers. He lost friends and commanding officers, but he fought until the battle ended and helped Allied Forces turn the tide of the war against the Nazis.
June 6, 1944, 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. General Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which “we will accept nothing less than full victory.”
