American veteran Jack Port has died at 98
Veteran Jack Port has died at the age of 98, as confirmed by the Utah Beach Landing Museum in Sainte-Marie-du-Mont. Born April 12, 1922 to Estonian parents who had emigrated to the United States,
Jack Port arrived in England in June 1943 and landed at Utah Beach on
June 6, 1944, at 6:40 a.m., in one of the first waves of liberators. His unit, commanded by Major O’Malley, who will be killed during the battle of Mortain, freed Villedieu-les-Poêles, Coulouvray, Saint-Pois and Mortain.
Injured for the first time in Montebourg, a second time in Périers, Jack Port then fought in Mortain, Argentan, Alençon and Paris where he paraded on the Champs-Élysées. Honorary citizen of Saint-Pois, where he came regularly, Jack Port was knighted in the Legion of Honor in Paris, at Les Invalides, on June 5, 2009.
” I am not a hero, then declared Jack Port, the
real heroes are those who died on the D-Day landing beaches and in the
battles that followed. The hope of peace for everyone must be carried by
young people. They must be taught the dangers of hatred, wars are not
the solution. “
Back in the United States, for many years, he was silent ” to forget “
before speaking again so that we do not forget to American and Lower
Normandy schoolchildren. He honors the D-Day ceremonies with his
presence and returns to France every year.
In 2019, during the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings, Jack Port met Adèle, a 10-year-old girl from Franche-Comté.
