By James Martin
Last month, my brother Jacob, my dad (MOF pilot Phil Martin), and I returned from a two-week trip to Normandy, France, for the 80th Anniversary of the D-Day invasion. Our mission: to honor the brave veterans who gave their lives or served our country during the Second World War.
Back in April of 2023, my family took a trip to Normandy and met a Frenchman who told us about the Liberty Jump Team. He explained how June 6th is celebrated as a holiday, and every year, thousands flock to Normandy to commemorate the Allied Invasion to Liberate France. Amongst them are groups that reenact the paratrooper drops during the invasion by jumping from C-47s and landing on the same drop zones that the Americans did on D-Day. By the time we got home, we were hooked. Jacob and I signed up for the team and took a week-long training course that prepared us to jump. Our class was unique, as everyone who completed the training was planning to jump into France. We learned everything from landing, controlling your parachute, and how to pack your chute. By the end of the week, we felt like a part of the team.
It wasn’t long until we were in France, and evidence of a celebration was everywhere. American, British, and Canadian flags lined the country roads. In Normandy, French citizens of all ages were sporting their American steel pot helmets and uniforms while driving Willys jeeps. You could be anywhere, and C-130s, C-47s, a P-51, and many other aircraft could be seen flying overhead (a green and white C-45 would have fit right in). The center point of all the action was in a town called Sainte Mere Eglise. As pictured in the film “The Longest Day,” the town was the first to be liberated in Normandy by the 82nd Airborne Division. Whether it was the dummy paratrooper hanging off the roof of the town’s chapel, the Airborne museum, or the ‘Stop Bar,’ there was always a crowd in town.
Liberty Jump Team was set to jump into a number of historic locations across the region, each with its own significance. My brother and I jumped into Amfreville, Bois de Lemoir, Mont Saint Michel, and the largest drop- La Fiere Bridge, with over 10,000 spectators. Every jump was different, and stuck to the D-Day accurate theme of “not everything goes to plan”. Due to winds and where I was released in “stick order,” 3 out of my four jumps were made unintentionally somewhere a ways from the target, which ended up being in a random farmer’s field twice and surrounded by sheep the other. When you walked back towards the target to let everyone know you were alive and well, spectators would come up to greet you, take a picture, shake your hand, or chat. We gave out stickers, patches, or paratrooper-related items to children who came to watch. The jump at La Fiere Bridge was the largest, with an incredible amount of spectators and a landing zone, as well as the constant waves of jumpers from militaries all over the world overhead (it also gave us the most stories, but I’ll spare them). Mont Saint Michel was special since the LJT was given the opportunity to jump from a C130, which was an insane experience and the 8th jump. Whenever we were in the aircraft heading to jump, I thought about how the many young men on the evening of June 5th must have felt. After years of training, they were about to jump into the unknown, with many unsure if they would even survive to see the next day. It was humbling to think that many were not much older than me at the time.
When we were not jumping, our time was spent at museums, LJT events, or visiting the many historic landmarks scattered across the region. We revisited Omaha Beach, the American Cemetery, Utah Beach, Pointe Du Hoc, and the “Iron Mike” memorial. When a jump was canceled because of the weather, we took a trip to see “Pegasus Bridge” and Gold Beach, where the British landed, which I hadn’t known much about before. One of my more unique experiences was when my brother, another LJT member, and I woke up early on June 6th to make a ~10-mile road hike from Utah Beach to Sainte Mere Eglise while wearing paratrooper equipment. Using our friend’s map of the region from the 40s, a route was planned that took us across the Normandy countryside and through many small villages. At one point, we were on a windy road that was completely covered by trees, making a natural tunnel. All of a sudden, an armada of old army vehicles roared by, and all the vehicle occupants hooted and hollering at us dressed like GIs themselves, with us in our paratrooper kit waving back. It felt like something out of a movie and really stuck out to me as something I would never see anywhere else.
However, my favorite experience of the trip was a veterans parade put on by the Best Defense Foundation for the vets that Delta flies over each year. After a large event by the organization, hundreds of people lined the roads to watch as a couple of dozen WW2 vets were paraded down the road. They were complete celebrities. Everyone in the crowd rushed to get a handshake, picture, or a quick word in with them. It was very rewarding to see how people reacted to the veterans and the way they still thank the vets for freeing them, especially the French, with some even to the point of tears. I even got to shake hands with and talk to a few, including veteran “Papa” Jake Larson, who landed on Omaha Beach. He told me, ”I’m 101 years old, I’m gonna be 102 in December, and I don’t have an ache or a pain in my body. I’m still glad to be alive.”
Overall, my trip to Normandy for the 80th Anniversary was incredibly rewarding and something I’ll never forget. There’s a lot I am leaving out, but I don’t want to take up more space by accidentally writing a book in the newsletter. I’ll leave it at this: Jumping into Normandy and seeing French men, women, and smiling children all waving American flags showed me that the impact our soldiers made on D-Day is still alive, and to even be a small part of commemorating that was an honor. Normandy proved to me that whether it’s from the Liberty Jump Team or the Museum of Flight, there’s something about “seeing” history in person that makes a lasting impression on people. Regardless of whether it’s visible here at home or not, teaching, commemorating, and representing our history inspires the public one person at a time and ensures our veteran’s legacies are never forgotten.