Never forgotten

Today is D-Day, so awesome in scope and daring and bravery it never ceases to amaze those of us who hold great respect for our service men and women.

The invasion of France on June 6, 1944 was a triumph of intelligence, coordination, secrecy, and planning. The bold attack was also a tremendous risk. Ultimately it succeeded because of individual soldiers’ bravery in combat…

An invading army had not crossed the unpredictable, dangerous English Channel since 1688 — and once the massive force set out, there was no turning back. The 5000-vessel armada stretched as far as the eye could see, transporting over 150,000 men and nearly 30,000 vehicles across the channel to the French beaches. Six parachute regiments — over 13,000 men — were flown from nine British airfields in over 800 planes.

 

Tremendous numbers of people were forever impacted by the event. For some, it has finally come full circle.

The family of Pvt. William Bernice Clark never had a funeral for him, never got to say goodbye and never really accepted his fate among the fallen during the Normandy D-Day landings in World War II.

That was until the young soldier’s dog tag, recently discovered in the sands of Omaha Beach in France, was returned to his native Tennessee on Wednesday _ exactly 63 years after that tragic day.

“This feels like an ending,” said the soldier’s first cousin, 79-year-old Lota Park, who along with another cousin accepted the dog tag at a ceremony in the small town of Huntingdon, about 90 miles west of Nashville.

The tag has blackened with age, but his name, identification number, religion (Protestant) and blood type (Type O) are all clearly visible.

It remained out of sight for more than five decades until a collector from England found it five years ago while combing the beach for D-Day artifacts, likely near the very spot where the 20-year-old Clark was killed. The collector gave the dog tag to a World War II buff from New Jersey, who turned it over to the National D-Day Memorial.

God bless those who served, and their families, each and every one.