WOW. That word pretty much encapsulates how amazing the day was on Saturday. Jack and I woke up bright and early to head down to Bedford to volunteer at the Memorial during the 71st anniversary celebration. I was really looking forward to it and so was he, and we were NOT disappointed.
When we arrived, there were not too many people on site, so we parked at the bottom of the hill and walked up to the tent where we met the rest of the Education interns/staff. We were closing the tent 15 minutes before the ceremony so we were just waiting for that time to close up shop. While the others were taking advantage of the A/C in the tent, Jack and I made a lap around site. We went up to the top to look at what the set-up was and so I could show him my favorite statue with the ring on the finger 🙂 Then, as we came down we saw some WWII re-enactors and went to talk to them and look at their stuff.
On our way back to the tent, we got voluntold to help take the wreaths all the way from the gift shop, across the memorial and put them next to the airplane. They smelled wonderful and looked beautiful, but were VERY heavy! The wreaths commemorated some specific battalions, companies, etc. Jack and Connor even almost got to lay the Canadian wreath because the Canadian attaches did not show up, but Felicia enlisted the British reenactors to do it instead, thankfully!
When we got back to the tent, the headlining speaker was there. She was quiet and cute all decked out in red, white, and blue. When someone came in and asked her if she was from Belgium (more on that a little later), she said, “No! I am an American citizen” as proudly as anyone I’ve ever heard. That feistiness showed through in her speech that happened a little later on.
Anywho, we got to sit down and talk to a WWII and D-Day veteran named Buster who was an engineer that took in the first few loads of people from the ships stationed 10 miles out from Normandy all the way into the beaches and back out again several times. His first trip contained the 2nd Ranger Battalion (HOOAH!), and several trips after that contained some of the guys from the 29th Infantry (Central Virginia Boys, including the Bedford Boys). It was a cool experience to get to talk to him. After he finally decided that he did not want to wait for his son to come get him anymore and reassured us that he could still walk, we headed out to the ceremony.
The 29th Division band played music at the beginning, and then the Drum and Fife part of the 29th Division band played too. The colors were presented and the Star Spangled Banner played. The Chairman of the National D-Day Memorial Foundation did the welcome. Next, someone read Eisenhower’s Order of the Day from 6 June 1944 and someone else read Roosevelt’s D-Day Prayer.
You are about to embark on the Great Crusade towards which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you! The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world……………….”
Then Shenandoah was played and the wreaths were laid. During all of this we were on patrol for people falling because it was pretty hot that day. Luckily only one person fell and they were rescued immediately by the Rescue Squad. The Purple Heart plaque was on the wall behind where we were standing, so these guys with the purple heart wreath ended up standing next to us. We offered and got them some water and they were very happy about it even when I saw one of them a few hours later!
Taps was played by a bugler after the wreaths were laid. Then someone introduced our speaker (remember, the quiet lady we hung out with in the tent before the ceremony?) and she got up to speak. Dame Mary Sigillo Barraco is 91 years old, and she was 17 years old when the war broke out in Europe. Before the war, she lived in the United States with her mother and father until the depression when her father moved to Canada and she moved with her mother back to her mother’s homeland of Belgium. She was in Belgium when the war broke out.
After Germany invaded Belgium, Mary Sigillo as she was named then, joined the Belgian Resistance called the Belgian Freedom Fighters. She and her fiance were captured and taken to separate prison camps where he was executed and she was sentenced to 16 months. In that 16 months, Mary was beaten, broken, and sterilized. She spoke about the small 4′ by 4′ locker she was forced to stay in and how when she was finally let out, she could not stand up straight because she had not in so long. She told us how she had almost given up when one day she heard American bomber planes flying ahead and they gave her the strength to push forward because she knew she had not been given up on.
She made 9/11 parallel to that of what happened when she was in Belgium and it was invaded. She talked about freedom and the United States and how we cannot take anything we have for granted. I was moved to tears and to laughter and enjoyed her loud, powerful voice and message through the telling of her story.
These were some of my favorite quotes:
“I have lost my American freedoms once and by God I never want to lose them again!”
Talking about post 9/11 in the U.S.: “One thing has not changed: we still live in the greatest country in the world!
On her title as torchbearer of Freedom: “I wish to pass my torch of freedom to each and everyone of you with the hope and the prayer that you will take that torch of freedom and carry it proudly for the whole world to see.”
It is only after we have lost our freedom we appreciate its value!
On Nazi Germany’s oppression: “A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything away!”
She pushed so hard for us to not take our freedoms for granted because she had seen them all get taken away from her. There are no words to describe how amazing her speech was. She is truly a hero. After the war, she got married in 1949 and was widowed by Mr. Barraco in 1978. In 2004, she was knighted by the king of Belgium hence her name: Dame Mary Sigillo Barraco.
After that, the rest of the ceremony was kind of a blur. Some more people spoke and the band played. The Coast Guard Silent Drill team performed for the WWII veterans, which was really cool. Afterwards, Jack and I were stationed in the hospitality tent and I got to talk to some more of the veterans and bond with the other interns. We helped clean off tables and such, but mostly we just took in our surroundings.
When it was nearing the end of the day, we headed back into the tent. Some people with kids came in and out asking questions, and to my surprise I could help answer a lot of them. The best part about the end of the day was the moment I got to take a picture with the Dame, though. I told her she had made me cry and she apologized. I made sure to let her know that they were not sad tears and that she had just moved me, and she looked at me with a smile and appreciation in her eyes (as cheesy as that sounds). It was an absolute blessing to get to experience someone who had been through so much approach life with such a positive attitude.
A life-changing experience.
oh the places you'll go 
[…] part of that activity, which I thought was imported especially after hearing Dame Mary speak (Dame Mary). I loved this activity. It was a little scary at first trying to figure out how I would make the […]
Wow, this must have been such an incredible experience. I feel more proud and grateful to have these freedoms just by reading about her speech!