Oak Ridge High School students experience history on 80th anniversary of D-Day

NORMANDY, France (WVLT) - Anybody can read about the D-Day invasions that marked the beginning of the end of WWII, but one group of Tennessee students had the chance to experience it.

Oak Ridge High School’s Junior Navy ROTC travelled to Normandy for the 80th anniversary of the invasion, to speak to the veterans who were there in 1944. Cadets said the experience was rewarding in a way that sitting in the classroom cannot be.

“Getting to put the pieces together, also meeting these people,” one cadet said about highlights of the trip. “We have met three veterans today from WWII, and it’s just immaculate. I couldn’t imagine ever being able to meet someone like that and shake their hand, speaking to me and seeing me as a person and connecting to me.”

Experiences like the students’ trip is part of important efforts to remember history, according to Dario Antonucci. He’s a WWII veteran himself, and he said being a part of the greatest generation is a blessing.

“To me, it means a day of sacrifice, a day of patriotism, which I hope is still there and the hope of preserving the liberty and the freedom to be had,” he said.

Those who organized the trip said they have more in store, a bit closer to home.