ST. JOSEPH, Mich. — By next June, the Tiscornia Beach in St. Joseph, Michigan will become the beaches of Normandy.
Lest We Forget USA, an organization that honors America's military history, will stage a live reenactment of D-Day to mark the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Normandy.
D-Day refers to June 6, 1944, when allied forces stormed a 50-mile stretch of beaches in northern France during World War II. It was the largest land, sea, and air operation the world had seen at the time, according to History.
That invasion was a major turning point in the war, and kickstarted the collapse of the Nazi regime.
"The real D-Day probably took a little more time than we’re going to have on it," said Larry Wozniak, president of Lest We Forget. "We got 9 months right now, but I think they worked on it for a long time. Rain or shine, we get to go that day so there won’t be any chance of changing the date.”
Wozniak was jokingly referring to the fact that D-Day was originally planned for June 5, 1944, but poor weather delayed the attack for 24 hours.
The reenactment is scheduled for June 22, 2024. Each of the two planned shows will include World War II planes, ships and at least 150 actors.
“We have German reenactors, we have Japanese reenactors and of course we have the American reenactors," Wozniak said. "So it’s going to be a fantastic weekend.”
You can't have a true reenactment without explosives. That's where Lance Hazen, a professional pyrotechnic, comes in.
“So today we have gas mines, we have a creamer mine, we have some ground salutes and we’re going to do some ground salutes in the water," Hazen said, explaining the plan for Wednesday's test run.
There were 19 explosives set up, which Hazen said will only be "a small slice" of the real deal.
"Everything went off as planned," he said.
Nothing will compare to the real thing though, of course.
Again, both reenactment shows will happen Saturday, June 22, 2024 at Tiscornia Beach in St. Joseph, Michigan.
