Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 7, 1994 TAG: 9406070107
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: COLLEVILLE-SUR-MER, FRANCE LENGTH: Long
And for Bob Slaughter of Roanoke it was a bigger day than for most.
Following ceremonies commemorating the 50th anniversary of D-Day at the U.S. military cemetery near this small English Channel town, Slaughter joined two other veterans in a stroll to Omaha Beach with President Clinton.
Slaughter, who landed with Roanoke's Company D of the 29th Division's 116th Infantry Regiment on D-Day, had a front row seat along with the president and Hillary Rodham Clinton as well as other dignitaries for the 5:30 p.m. ceremony.
The path from the cemetery, at the top of the bluffs at the eastern end of Omaha Beach, to the sand below is roughly 500 yards long. On the way down, Slaughter said he and the other veterans talked with Clinton about D-Day.
Slaughter said the president, who stands about four inches shorter than the 6-foot, 6-inch Roanoker, seemed familiar with the events of June 6, 1944. But, by his questions, he didn't seem interested in the details of the invasion.
"I don't believe he was really interested in D-Day; it was a photo-op," Slaughter said.
Slaughter had been to Omaha Beach on the two previous days to rehearse the walk. "We had to be turned certain ways for the cameras," he said.
Regardless, he said the president ``was just a hell of a nice guy'' and appeared sincere.
"He told us he appreciated what we did," Slaughter said. "He said the country owes the veterans a lot."
Although Slaughter is in good physical shape, he's much older than the president. "He helped me down and would grab my arm when I took a step," Slaughter said.
After they arrived at the bottom of the hill, an Army chaplain said a brief prayer and Slaughter, Clinton and the two other vets mounted an Army Humvee all-terrain vehicle for the ride back up the bluff.
The president put Slaughter in the front seat next to the driver, put the other two veterans in the back seat, and then jumped in and sat on the edge of the vehicle's bed for the ride up the hill.
Slaughter said he has no idea how he was picked from the thousands of veterans here to make the walk with Clinton. He thinks it may be because someone in the White House read a recent Washington Post story about D-Day in which he was interviewed.
It was unclear how Clinton would be received by the World War II vets, because he avoided the draft during the Vietnam War. Evelyn Riley of Roanoke said she heard a few boos among the crowd when Clinton took the stage, but they were drowned out by applause.
Riley, who landed in Normandy 10 days after D-Day to care for the wounded in a field hospital, said a memorial service attended by 8,000 assembled veterans was full of meaning and "very sad."
Her husband, Berkley, who was an officer with the 29th Division's field artillery in Normandy, said he appreciated Clinton's remarks and said the president should have a better appreciation for the military after his visit to Normandy.
Because of its National Guard history, many Virginians served in the 29th Division, which landed first on Omaha Beach, the bloodiest of the invasion beaches on D-Day. The 29th's veterans received special seating and recognition at the Omaha Beach ceremony. The same was true of the 1st Division, which landed beside the 29th.
Clinton mentioned that 11 men from Bedford County are buried in the cemetery here. In all, 19 Bedford county men died when the town's National Guard company landed in the first wave of infantry troops on the beach.
Charles Neighbor, 69, a 29th Division veteran from Roanoke who landed in the first wave on the beach, said Clinton's speech was poignant.
"He brought out a couple important points," Neighbor said, "that we can't close our eyes to the trouble spots of the world ... that we have to allow future generations to remember us."
Before the start of the ceremony, the narrow country lanes leading to Colleville-Sur-Mer were crowded with dozens of tour buses under darkly overcast skies - the same kind of weather that greeted the veterans on June 6, 1944.
Father Patrick Gillooly, 70, of Berkley Springs, W.Va., a combat engineer on D-Day, said the smell of diesel fumes in the cemetery parking lot reminded him more of the war than anything he had seen during his past six days in Normandy.
As the tour buses unloaded, thousands of aging veterans and other visitors were forced to pass through metal detectors, causing a lengthy delay.
The crowd, the tight security and the 1,000 journalists left some veterans frustrated. "It's more like a media event," observed Nick Demond of North East, Md.
The Omaha Beach ceremony was one of five held in Normandy on Monday, including others held at Utah Beach, the other U.S. invasion beach, and at Pointe du Hoc, a cliff between the two beaches scaled by the 2nd Ranger Battalion in the face of German fire.
An Army artillery unit fired an 18-gun salute in recognition of each combat unit taking part in the Omaha Beach landing, and later a 21-gun salute to the dead. The roar of the cannon somehow seemed intrusive in a place whose 9,386 marble headstones normally strike mute those who walk between them.
Former CBS newsman Walter Cronkite was the master of ceremonies at the Omaha Beach ceremony. President Clinton was introduced by Joe Dawson, a 1st Division Medal of Honor winner on D-Day.
The sun broke through the clouds just as Clinton began to speak. "See what the world's most powerful man can do," someone joked.
The cemetery says more in silence than words can convey, Clinton said. The simple sounds of silence of the peaceful French beach are the voices of the dead speaking from across the years, he said.
Turning to the veterans around him, he said, "Let us never forget that when these men were young they saved the world."
by CNB