Retired soldier travels to Normandy for D-Day tributes in honor of veteran who died before trip

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (WTVD) -- As the 80th commemoration of D-Day approaches on June 6 a group of veterans in the 82nd Airborne traveled to Normandy for a series of tributes and celebrations.

One North Carolina soldier who flew to France is honoring a best friend and veteran who died before the trip. Retired Lt. Col. Dale Cremisio of the 82nd Airborne said he wasn't even sure if the trip was going to happen.

For months, he planned to go with his best friend, Col. Sam Kitchen, a 98-year-old World War II veteran from Gray's Creek.

"I can't emphasize enough how we sat there many, many an evening and discussed coming to Normandy, and what we're gonna do and who we were gonna see and the history," Cremisio said.

The two were supposed to travel together on a group trip organized by a French-run organization called Veterans Back to Normandy. Cremisio said they looked forward to seeing Normandy with other veterans from the 82nd Airborne, some as old as 107.

Kitchen died just weeks before they were scheduled to fly to France.

Now in France, Cremisio followed through with the trip in honor of his friend.

"I'm proud and happy to be here, and it's a trip of a lifetime. But I sure wish I sure wish old Sam was here with me," Cremisio said.

Cremisio said he didn't join the service until the late 1970s. But he said traveling to Normandy meant everything to his best friend because Kitchen was in the Marine Corps' Pacific Theater when D-Day happened.

Cremisio said he hopes to bury a trinket for his friend at the beach in his honor. He said he's been moved by the warmth and pride the people of Normandy have shown him and his fellow veterans.

"(I)t renewed my faith not only in my country but in humanity itself," Cremisio said.

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The D-Day operation on June 6, 1944, is seen as the event that was the beginning of the end of World War II. By land, air and sea, the U.S. military and its allies stormed the beaches of Normandy, France, in the largest invasion in military history to begin a massive assault against German forces.