D-Day 2024: Bay Area veterans travel to Normandy for 80th anniversary

NORMANDY – They are living history. Testaments to the greatest generation. Six Tampa Bay area veterans who served in World War II are guests of the Florida Elks Association, taking them from Tampa to Normandy, France to witness a world saying thanks, and FOX 13’s Mark Wilson is joining them to cover their historic and emotional journey.

“I can’t wait,” said 97-year-old Hector Hita, a paratrooper from Pasco County who has been invited to speak.

Hita made 39 jumps in World War II and plans to deliver an impassioned speech at the Brittany American Cemetery on Thursday, June 6, the 80th Anniversary of D-Day.

Malen Griep is another. He just turned 98, lives in Tampa, and he spent his 19th birthday liberating a Nazi concentration camp in the weeks after D-Day.

“I’m proud of what we did and I hope our other generations realized what we went through — all for freedom,” Griep said.

He has also been invited to speak at the ceremony on Thursday.

“It’s a real honor to be able to take them,” said Elks Association President Rudy Masi. “They didn’t have a childhood. They went right from 17-18 and they got their youth stolen from them. So I wanted to give something back.”

The Elks have 22 veterans in all, six of whom participated during World War II and are in their upper 90s. So they have a team of three doctors traveling with them to monitor their health.

Code named Operation Overlord, what we now know as D-Day marks one of the most significant days in our nation’s history — the day the U.S. joined the Allied fight in World War II, invading the northern shores of France to push the Germans back. June 6, 1944, was also the single bloodiest day in the history of our nation, but perhaps the most crucial. Allied forces landed on the beaches of Normandy, sustaining two days of heavy casualties, but turned the tide on the German army, leading to their eventual retreat.

Allied forces first dropped in close to 18,000 paratroopers behind enemy lines — among them, well known former and now deceased Florida Congressman, Sam Gibbons.

“This may be the greatest battle in the history of our world,” said Sam’s son, Clifford Gibbons. “Imagine being dropped behind enemy lines in the middle of the night into German territory. The courage each and every one of these soldiers displayed is remarkable.”

Meanwhile, 133,000 Allied troops descended onto Normandy’s beaches for a surprise morning attack. While they did catch German fighters by surprise, the German army had higher ground, and concrete bunkers that were difficult to penetrate. As a result, nearly 10,000 American soldiers were killed in the fighting. Fighting raged on for three months and Allied forces eventually forced a German retreat. Of those killed, wounded or missing from June 6 to August 31, 1944, 135,000 were Americans, while German losses were nearly three times as many at 320,000.

“It’s also inspiring, this was not just a battle. This was arguably the most consequential battle in American history,” said USF historian Gary Mormino.

READ: D-Day veterans return to Normandy for 80th anniversary, share memories and messages for future generations

The youngest soldiers, who would have been 17 in 1944, are now 97. So less than 1 percent of the 16 million Americans who served during World War II are still with us. And for veterans like 96-year-old Stearns Poor, who is also from Tampa and invited by the Elks to attend the Normandy anniversary, the camaraderie of his fellow soldiers and now life-long friends is something he will always cherish.

“I really have led an interesting life, shed a lot of tears and, like life, you just put one foot in front of the other,” Poor told FOX 13’s Mark Wilson.

And for Mormino, who’s published works on Tampa Bay’s, specifically Hillsborough County’s role in the war, the collective support on the homefront and gratitude for what these and the other veterans did at the time was something to behold.

“It’s a lost world of respect and duty,” Mormino said. “And a sense of belonging to something greater than yourself.”

For more on D-Day, click here.

NOTE: Stay tuned all week to FOX 13 News as Mark Wilson also travels to France, reporting from Normandy as FOX 13 salutes our Tampa Bay soldiers for their role they played in the war, their courage, sacrifice and liberty they gave to Europe.

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