The images of World War II and D-Day are still etched into the minds of people around the world.
But today, a new image comes from stories of unsung heroes that are often untold.
“We had to wait. We had to wait for a fighter escort going to Normandy and coming back,” said First Lieutenant Evelyn Kowalchuk.
Kowalchuk and her team of 500 nurses had to wait — wait for help, wait to help, wait for their story to be told.
Now, that wait is over.
“The longer we study the history, the more awareness I think we get of what hasn’t been told,” said John Long, Director of Education at the National D-Day Memorial.
As we approach the 77th anniversary of D-Day, it’s about time we highlight some stories left untold.
“They paved the way for air evacuation. It was so new,” said April Cheek-Messier, president of the National D-Day Memorial Foundation.
The stories of women, like Kowalchuk.
“I wasn’t drafted. I volunteered for the service,” said Kowalchuk.
The stories of minorities, like Roanoke native William Dabney.
“To meet a man who was there on D-Day under fire, but with a whole different mission than most other D-Day veterans I have met, and to know he overcame not just the hardships of war, the dangers of being in combat, but some of the unfairness that existed at the time in the segregated army,” said John Long, director of education for the National D-Day Memorial.