NORMANDY, France — A former Chazy Central Rural School student was a witness to history at the 80th anniversary commemoration of the D-Day Invasion in Normandy, France June 6.
Luke Basso, a filmmaker who has conducted over 75 interviews with veterans — including many in the North Country — for his YouTube channel, Filmperia, had the opportunity of a lifetime when he got to visit the historic beaches of Normandy earlier this month.
“I’ll never forget this experience,” Basso said. “I don’t think I ever will.”
ONCE IN A LIFETIME EXPERIENCE
Basso, who lived in New York before relocating to North Carolina for family and opportunity reasons last year, said he even missed his high school graduation to attend the event.
“I’m sad about that, but this outweighs it, because when will I experience something like this again?” he said.
“Of course it’ll never excuse my graduation, but going to the 80th anniversary of D-Day, this is a once in a lifetime experience. Especially (because) there’s barely World War II veterans left, this will probably be the last major one they do. Most of these World War II veterans, they’re almost 100 years old.”
For the commemoration, Basso and his mother, Elizabeth, went to Gold Beach, where the British soldiers landed on that historic day in 1944.
Omaha Beach and Utah Beach, where the majority of the U.S. soldiers landed 80 years ago, were closed off to the general public June 6th so World War II veterans, high ranking generals and world dignitaries such as U.S. President Joe Biden and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy could attend.
“A lot of beaches were closed off … I was lucky I was able to go to a beach. It wasn’t Omaha sadly, but I’m not important enough to go to Omaha,” Basso joked. “I saw it the day after.”
LONG IN PLANNING
Visiting Normandy was planned months in advance.
Basso said he had always hoped to go there one day, but the idea was only brought up again after he was invited to prepare for the D-Day anniversary in April with Round Canopy Parachute Team USA (RCPT-USA), a non-profit organization that “performs round canopy commemorative airborne demonstrations to increase awareness and educate the public about the sacrifices and heroism of Allied Paratroopers from WWII onward.”
He said RCPT-USA had reached out to him after they saw an article about his filmmaking endeavors and wanted him to get involved in the organization.
Basso was appreciative of the invitation, but said he would have had to miss too much school time in order to do so and declined. However, the organization’s proposal sparked his interest in wanting to visit the significant World War II site that led to the liberation of France.
“Normandy in general, we’ve been wanting to go there for years, but COVID wouldn’t allow us to, sadly,” he said.
“That guy who reached out to us just reminded me of that: ‘Oh, yeah … I got to go there, maybe, I should go during the actual anniversary instead.’ It turned out even better.”
During his visit, Basso said he met and spoke with French, British and American veterans of all ages.
One specific encounter with an elderly veteran is etched in his mind.
“American veterans, we go above and beyond for them,” Basso said.
“This one (French) veteran I met, he had never been thanked for his service before.”
“I saw him sitting there with a few people and … I’m thinking ‘those aren’t U.S. medals,’ so I’m like ‘hey, thank you for your service,’ and he was so grateful … he was almost crying. Which is a shame, I wish veterans were treated with more honor and respect and are admired more.”
‘THAT WAS SOMETHING’
Basso said he did not get the chance to interview any veterans for his YouTube channel while he was there due to how busy it was. Though he got the contact information for several people and hopes to do interviews with them in the future, he said.
Of the overall experience, Basso said “it was amazing.”
“I saw so many World War II vehicles. I didn’t even know that many World War II vehicles were still in use after 80 years. I saw, maybe, hundreds of Willy Jeeps … so many tanks, lots of aircraft flying by.”
Basso also got the chance to visit Normandy American Cemetery, where over 9,000 U.S. soldiers are buried.
“That was something.”
What stood out to Basso the most about his visit was the amount of American flags being flown all over Normandy.
“I don’t know if it’s like that year round, because it’s already a tourist hot spot, but I’ve never seen so many American flags in my life,” he said.
“Compared to all the Fourth of July parades, the Memorial Day parades, the Veterans Day parades, I saw more American flags in Normandy than I ever did in the United States because they are so grateful … that the Americans liberated them from the Nazis after four years of German oppression. They are so grateful for that.”