Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, June 6, 1994 TAG: 9406060009
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Today, Nance will talk a little more about it - with Vice President Al Gore. Nance is to meet and talk with Gore before a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery on the 50th anniversary of the Allied invasion of Western Europe. One of Gore's assistants called Nance on Friday to ask him to participate.
Nance and Roy Stevens (featured in a Roanoke Times & World News story Saturday) are the last survivors from Bedford County's Company A of the 116th Infantry. Bedford County saw a higher percentage of its men killed than any other community involved in the D-Day invasion.
Gore will mention each of the veterans chosen for the ceremony and their roles in what has become known as "the longest day."
Nance will be accompanied today by his wife, Alpha; his son, John G. Nance; and his son's wife, Mary Ann.
Nance said Stevens will be on his way to France today to revisit Normandy this week. Clinton and French President Francois Mitterrand will be speaking today with Normandy's historic beaches as a backdrop.
Nance, who has a heart condition, thought about going to France, but was afraid the emotion of the event might overtake him, saying: "I didn't want to spend the 50th anniversary in a French hospital."
Nance said that when he returned home after the war, he had no idea what would come a half-century later.
"My mind has been exercised vigorously over the past few months," he said. "I remember things [about the invasion] quite vividly."
Nance, 79, has grown a little weary of recounting all his memories for reporter after reporter, but he understands his place in history.
"I feel it's my duty to tell the story," he says, "for the people who didn't come back."
by CNB