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A French church’s chilling reminder of the horrors of WWII

Dennis-touches-the-church-pews-in-Angoville-au-Plain

© walkamongheroes / Instagram

Cerith Gardiner - published on 06/27/24

A recent trip to the church in Angoville-au-Plain shows the pews that are still blood-stained from D-Day.

The recent 80-year anniversary of D-Day brought up many memories from that decisive moment in the fight for freedom during World War II.

While social media has been awash with many posts about that critical time in history, there was one particular recent post that really brought home the horrors and sacrifices during the allied invasion of Normandy.

The post that was shared by walkamongheroes shows a veteran named Dennis — although looking at his appearance we can’t be sure he is old enough to be one of the very few remaining veterans from the Normandy Landing itself, who would be aged 96 upwards — touching the blood-stained church pews from 1944.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Walk Among Heroes (@walkamongheroes)

While the poignant moment demonstrates the very vivid horrors of war, it also shows the important role the small church had to play during the invasion.

As a further post on Facebook shows, the church near Utah Beach acted as an aid station, where the two U.S. army medics Robert Wright and Ken Moore of the 101st Airborne cared for over 80 wounded soldiers from American and German forces, as well as for a young village child.

The pews that remain today for all to see are a testament to not only the sacrifices made by so many soldiers, but how they were able to seek refuge and gain physical, and hopefully spiritual, healing during such a terrifying moment in their lives.

Tags:
ChurchFranceSeniorsWorld War II
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