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One week after the United States honored its fallen veterans on Memorial Day, it was time to note the 67th anniversary of one of its greatest military achievements.
"I think D-Day was one of the most important days of military action ever," said Larchmont resident Sheldon Evans, a World War II veteran. Evans, who was drafted in 1941 and served in the 4th, 5th and 10th Armored Divisions during his four-and-a-half years at war, was stationed just across the channel from the infamous storm on Normandy in the early morning hours of June 6, 1944.
"I think it was the planes, first of all," said Evans when asked how he first heard of the 160,000-man front along the French coastline. "We always had them over head, but the big bombers were out that day."
Evans' unit, which transported all necessary equipment and supplies -- ammunition, rations, gasoline -- would speculate about when the large-scale attack would come.
"We were put under standing orders that any moment we could be pushed up the coast -- Plymouth or as far as London," he said. "And we'd have to board ships and go across, too. But, we realized by then we at least weren't the first group."
The 58-year Larchmont resident's unit went into France about one month later and his unit continued to transport supplies.
"Every truck that was available was put on the road, all of them in the direction of Paris, and then eventually beyond Paris" he said. "We filled all of England for a long time, and then we began to fill France, and then Belgium, Luxembourg and then finally Germany."
Evans, originally from Pennsylvania, moved to White Plains after the war and got married. As his family grew, he moved to Larchmont in and has lived there since 1953. Although Evans doesn't belong to an American Legion Post of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post, he catches up with other veterans, like Post Commander of VFW Post 1156 Burt Corwin at Memorial Day events.
When World War II ended, Evans believed that it would be the final war.
"It just had to be done, and it certainly was the most important that I was ever aware of," he said. "And I think most GIs felt that way. It just had to be done."
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