(4 Jun 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Omaha Beach, France – 4 June 2024
1. Various of World War II veterans arriving at Omaha Beach on wheelchairs
2. Wide of veterans and others on Omaha Beach; pans right
3. Sid Edson, 100, who flew over Omaha Beach on D-Day as a member of the US Air Force 491st Bomb Group, on beach
4. Close-up of Edson’s hands taking small jar with sand from Omaha Beach and putting it in his pocket
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Sid Edson, 100, World War II veteran from US Air Force 491st Bomb Group:
"I was on a bomber going over the beach, bombing the Germans from behind so they couldn’t send up reinforcements."
6. Edson looking out to sea
7. Close-up of Edson holding flag
8. SOUNDBITE (English) of Sid Edson, 100, World War II veteran from US Air Force 491st Bomb Group:
(Describing seeing injured soldiers in hospital in aftermath of D-Day)
"And that’s the first time in my life that I actually knew what they were going through and what the war was like. Because being in a plane, you’re only concerned about what’s in the air. And those guys, every one of them, must have gone through hell. And even though they did, with everything that they went through, they took care of, they took the beach and the other beaches. And that started the beginning of winning World War II."
9. Planes flying
10. Reverse of Connie Palacioz, a riveter at Boeing during World War II, looking at planes
11. Close-up of Palacioz’s plane design earrings
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Connie Palacioz, 99, riveter at Boeing during World War II, and daughter Tish Nielsen:
Palacioz: "I never thought it was important to tell that I was a riveter."
Nielsen: "She would always say ‘I just did my work. That was my job to help them.’ Because all the men were gone, you said."
Palacioz: "All the men were at war. So us women had to do the job. So there was a lot of Rosie the Riveters that worked there at Boeing where I worked."
13. Various of veterans
14. Close-up of US flag; tilts up to show woman holding flag
15. US World War II veteran Walter Stitt, 99, and his daughter listening during ceremony
16. Close-up of Stitt’s daughter’s hand on his shoulder
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Walter Stitt, 99, US World War II veteran:
"Well, there are things worth fighting for. Although I wish there was another way to do it than to try to kill each other. But sometimes you’re called upon to do something and you just do it. You know? That’s it. These people looked death in the face and just kept right on coming."
18. Various of veterans
19. SOUNDBITE (English) Walter Stitt, 99, US World War II veteran:
"I get tears in my eyes every time I go there (Normandy American Cemetery). It’s so sad. All those young men that never had a chance to go home, and find the love of their life and hold their children in their arms. It’s sad." (wipes tear from cheek)
20. Close-up of flower; pulls out to show US World War II veteran Fred Taylor and US military service people helping him on beach
21. Close-up of Taylor
22. Close-up of flower
23. Reverse of Taylor looking out at sea
24. Serviceman playing Taps
25. Various of sea at Omaha Beach
STORYLINE:
Veterans of World War II, many of them centenarians and likely returning to France for one last time, pilgrimaged Tuesday to what was the bloodiest of five Allied landing beaches on D-Day.
Some veterans shed a tear as they stood on the sands of Omaha Beach, part of the revered shoreline in Normandy, France, where so many American young men were were killed 80 years prior on June 6, 1944.
AP Video shot by Srdjan Nedeljkovic
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