This article was in today's paper. I excerpted part of it about a local man who participated in the invasion. With so few World War II survivors left, local veterans say it’s important to remember the sacrifice of those who served on the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Normandy. Chester Westgate vividly remembers arriving at Utah Beach during the Battle of Normandy. “When we got over to France ... they lowered the front of that boat down and we had to go off into the water and you had (gunfire) around you — it’s a funny sensation. All you’re trying to do is get to land. When we did get up to land because our equipment was so big, we couldn’t get it in operation right away so all we had were machine gunners. We were just like sitting ducks.” The fight continued for Westgate and the other members of the 129th Antiaircraft Artillery Gun Battalion as they advanced further into France toward German forces in 1945. “We ran into a place where we had to get across a stream of water and the engineers would build a bridge for us. They built a bridge four or five times because every time they would build it the Germans would knock it out. So we’re standing there getting beat up and finally they got the pontoon bridge up and we got across. Read the rest here (I hope) Local veterans reflect on their service during D-Day anniversary
