LEBANON, Ohio — While waves crashed against the sands of the beaches along Normandy, France on June 6, 1944, young men were hard at work dismantling and destroying a wide array of barricades put in their way as the invasion by allied forces began on D-Day.
Now, 80 years later, a new monument is being created by a Lebanon company to honor them.
“Their responsibility was to take out these obstacles and they unfortunately had a huge casualty rate,” said Jim Smith, owner of Laser Imaging and Art and Stone Monument in Lebanon, Ohio.
Smith and his team were granted the contract to honor the members of the Naval Combat Demolition Units/Scouts & Raiders.
“It's probably the most important project we've done,” Smith said.
He and his crew have built other monuments for the Navy and they received the call when the idea came about to build a new monument near Omaha Beach in Normandy, France to honor the men of the Naval Combat Demolition Unit.
“From what we know, it’s the longest form of imagery production possible by an engraving into the granite,” Smith said. “You're talking about something that's going to last for hundreds and hundreds of years, their story will live on.”
The monument features several story panels that walk you through the invasion. It showcases the work the NCDU units did to open five main channels for allied forces to gain access to the sandy surface of Normandy's beaches.
“Nothing like this has ever been done to honor the first guys that actually went up on up on the beach, you know, so these were the guys that that really made it possible for our forces to advance,” Smith said.
The NCDUs eventually became what we know today as the Navy Seals. The story featured on the lower black granite walls show that transformation from NCDU into the units of today.
Those sands of Omaha combined with sands from around the globe where Navy Seals have served will fill a square, granite box called the Living Sands that will feature a Czech Hedgehog in the middle.
A ten-foot-tall granite statue of a Navy NCDU stands watch of the monument and looks out over Omaha Beach.
The monument is in both English and French and will also feature a unique interactive feature for those who visit that will be in several languages and will give visitors an immersive experience too.
“Once your phone captures the QR code, it will show some video of the what happened that morning, and so forth. So, it's going to be almost like an interactive museum type of display, even though it's going to be a monument outside,” Smith said.
Built inside the main informational wall is a time capsule.
Smith calls his involvement in the project "humbling" as someone who didn’t serve in the military. He’s proud to be able to show his patriotism by honoring the men who served in the NCDU and now as Navy Seals.
The several tons of granite and steel had to be flown overnight from Cincinnati to Normandy to make it in time for installation ahead of the official dedication ahead of the 80th Anniversary of D-Day.
That ceremony will take place on May 30.
The monument was made possible by the Navy Seal Museum in Fort Pierce, Florida and a large number of financial donors.
You can see more over on their website.
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