FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AP) — The coronavirus pandemic canceled the yearly tradition of U.S Army 82nd Airborne Division paratroopers to travel to France to commemorate the anniversary of D-Day. But the town of Sainte-Mere-Eglise got to work collecting postcards of gratitude from their residents. Six months after the commemoration, a box was opened on Fort Bragg filled with hundreds of hand-written notes thanking American paratroopers for their sacrifice in liberating them from Nazi occupation. In the early morning hours of June 6, 1944, thousands of 82nd soldiers parachuted into Sainte-Mere-Eglise, eventually making it the first town to be liberated that day. Years later, the relationship still stands.
Notes from France honor American soldiers’ D-Day sacrifice
