D-Day

June 6, 2009, is the 65th anniversary of D-Day. That is the day in 1944 when the Allied invasion of Normandy, France, occurred. An air assault by American, British, and Canadian airborne troops landed shortly after midnight and more than 5,000 ships delivered Allied infantry and armored divisions along a 50-mile stretch of coastline at 6:30 that morning. 

What was Cliff Digre doing on June 6, 1944? On page 43, Cliff recounts that he and the other members of his B-17 crew had just been selected by pilot William T. “Robbie” Robertson. They were training at McDill Airfield near Tampa, FL. On page 48, Cliff writes, “We knew from the very first day we were going to have intense training—six days a week for twelve weeks—a portion of each day flying and a portion in ground school. Each day was something new to give all ten of us the training we would need for the real thing—combat….Much of our ground school was spent on aircraft recognition. It was imperative that we would be able to to instantly identify all aircraft—both friendly and enemy.”