Well-known White County World War II veteran Andy Negra was one of dozens of veterans who Tuesday visited Normandy in France to mark the 79th anniversary of the D-Day invasion that led to the end of the war.
Negra, who remembered the last time he stood on Utah Beach on July 18, 1944, was able to walk that same area as part of a special observation of the historic day. As he walked the sacred shoreline, he told the Associated Press, “So many were lost. And here I am.”
More than 4,000 Allied soldiers died on D-Day.
Negra, who just turned 99, told AP, “I am the only one in the 128th Armored Field Artillery that’s still alive.”
The walk along Utah Beach was one of the many events Negra and more than 40 American veterans took part in celebrating the historic event.
