A small veterans group leaves Rochester today to go to France for the 70th anniversary of the D-Day invasion at Normandy.
Jack Foy served as a sergeant in the Army. He was still in training here in the U.S. on June 6, 1944, and has clear memories of that day. "If it wasn't for the bravery of these eighteen, nineteen and 20-year old kids who really took the initiative to fight their way to get off that beach, because that beach was just a butcher shop the way the Germans were right on top with their guns and the guys couldn't do anything. They had to fight their way inland. But once they got off that beach, they could really take off."
Foy and his three fellow Rochester-area veterans, who are now in their eighties and nineties, say this will be their final trip to Europe.
Foy says he expects to see some world leaders at the ceremony commemorating the historic battle. "I got a call here a few weeks ago from the Secret Service. They wanted my social security number. I said, 'What for?' They said, 'You're going to be sitting next to the President. We've got to check you out.' "
