As what has been called the Greatest Generation ages, finding World War II veterans is getting harder. Tougher still is locating survivors of a single action, even one as momentous and enormous as D-Day.
But that is what Frank DeSorbo continues to do. DeSorbo, 65, of Delmar, is organizing the third annual D-Day Recognition and Remembrance event to be held on Saturday, June 1, at the Holiday Inn Express located on Old Loudon Road in Latham.
Veterans who have taken part in the ceremony in the past acknowledge how small their cohort has grown – and how special their camaraderie.
“There ain’t too many of us left anymore,” said Art Hamilton, an 87-year-old D-Day survivor. “You can’t find them anymore, they are disappearing.”
Hamilton, a Slingerlands resident, said when he drives around town he keep his eyes open for men that look the appropriate age to be a survivor of World War II, but has had little luck finding others. The D-Day-focused memorial gives him a chance to “shoot the breeze” with fellow survivors. Last year, he said there were six new veterans attending. From the ship he served on, there is only five or six men left of the original crew of around 115.
“I enjoy seeing the guys and some of them really get going telling stories,” Hamilton said. “You hate to talk about some of the stuff.”
Hamilton believes around eight survivors have passed away since last year’s event. For him, just surviving the invasion of Europe on June 6, 1944, is still a miracle.
“It is just going to be more and more (dying), there is nothing you can do about it,” Hamilton said. “I’m still wondering why I am still here. Somebody looked out for me.”
DeSorbo said this year’s event, scheduled to start at 11 a.m., is taking on a more informal form this year, with just one speaker planned. This year’s program is focusing on socializing and will feature a video, door prizes, raffles and other activities.
“What I am looking to do this year is make it more informal,” DeSorbo said. “The last couple of years it has been very crowded, almost 300 people each time. … So it has been very well attended.”
DeSorbo said he’s noticed veterans attending enjoy talking with each other and fellow attendees, so he wants to provide more time for people to converse with one another. He said this year’s event is also helping to raise funds for next year’s 70th anniversary event, which he hopes to make a special remembrance.
“We are working on maybe one speaker,” he said. “The last couple years I have had military speakers, my twist is, let’s get somebody that is not military because that’s who’s got to keep the memory alive, the recognition alive of what these people went through.”
A local D-Day veteran said one memory has stuck with him through the years. He was watching a group of prisoners during the campaign to capture the Ludendorff Bridge spanning the Rhine. He lit a cigarette and handed it to a prisoner who, apparently surprised by the action, hesitated to grab the smoke.
“He couldn’t believe it … he took the cigarette and looked at me with surprise, real surprise,” the veteran said. “I thought all these years, we come home and told stories, I said I hope he went home and had a family and told that story about me.”
Keeping such stories alive and vibrant is what the remembrance event is all about. DeSorbo said the youngest person at the event this year will be 87 years old, and while he is still trying to find survivors of D-Day, that task isn’t getting any easier. He said his drive is to keep the event going and get other people involved so it might be cemented for years to come.
“I just have felt this commitment … and I did have an interest in World War II and I did have an interest in D-Day,” DeSorbo said. “I don’t think there is any better people you can thank and especially when you think of them being kids and how they are now that they lived a life of something that is so historical.”
There are around 1.2 million World War II veterans still alive, according to the U.S. Veterans Administration, with more than 12,000 estimated to be living in New York State. Around 615 die every day and by 2036, the Veterans Administration projects there will be no more living WWII veterans.
If you know a veteran of the D-Day invasion, whether living or departed, you can contact Frank DeSorbo by calling 439-9265 or by email at [email protected]. Anyone interested in attending the June 1 D-Day is asked to contact DeSorbo for planning purposes.