By Danica Kirka, Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Ken Hay’s part in the invasion of Normandy lasted just a few weeks, but he wants to make sure the experiences of those who fought and died to end the Nazi grip on Europe live forever. The British Army veteran was captured a few weeks after the D-Day landings in northern France when his patrol was surrounded by German troops during the two-month battle for strategic high ground outside the city of Caen known simply as Hill 112. Nine members of his platoon were killed that night.
Hay spent the next 10 months as a prisoner of war. Now 98, Hay visits schools whenever he can to tell his story, so the battle to liberate France and defeat Nazi Germany doesn’t become a dusty relic of history like the Greek and Roman wars he read about as a child. “While we are around, we vets — and we’re a diminishing crew, of course — we are a tangible interpretation of what they read in the books, what they’ve heard from their parents, what their parents remember their grandparents saying,” Hay said recently.
He said his outreach isn’t to glorify war but to leave the message that “there must be a way, other than war, to resolve difficulties.” One hears that over and over from the veterans who are gathering in Normandy this week to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day. With even the youngest of those men and women nearing their 100th birthdays and their ranks dwindling rapidly, they feel a special imperative to tell their stories.
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