College Of The Ozarks Students And 10 Wwii Vets Go To Normandy

[Phil Lilley]

Twenty College of the Ozarks students, accompanied by college faculty members, will leave today for a trip of a lifetime. They are part of a travel contingent to France that is the result of a unique partnership between The Greatest Generations Foundation, (www.tggf.us) a Denver non-profit organization, and College of the Ozarks. The 20 students will accompany a group of 10 D-Day veterans making their first visit back to the invasion site since each of them stepped foot on the beach in June of 1944. For the students, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime learning experience and for the veterans, it’s a chance to revisit the places that helped to define their generation.

The students will travel with the ten veterans and staff from T.G.G.F to London before crossing the English Channel and traveling through northern France. They will go from DC to London to Utah Beach, Omaha Beach and Point-Du-Hoc. They will visit the crucial Pegasus Bridge together. On June 6, the contingent will join in the International Commemoration of D-Day. Throughout the journey, a pair of students will team up with a veteran. Each day they will rotate, escorting a new veteran, and learn his story. At night the students will take turns blogging about their experience, as well as uploading photos. To follow the group, visit their blogs at http://www.News-Leader.com/blogs/CofONormandy and http://thenormandyexperience.com/. You may also visit their picture gallery at http://www.news-leader.com/photos/CofONormandy.

[ness]

What an extraordinary opportunity for those kids. Not only doing an extended visit to Normandy, but getting to experience it with some vets is over the top. The kids sound like they are bright, well-grounded and understand things well beyond their years. Very cool. I added this to my RSS feed so I'm sure to see updates.

Thanks for posting this.