Veteran from D-Day Invasion recounts what he saw 75 years ago

LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – This year marks the 75th anniversary of the D-Day Invasion. The major turning point in the European Theatre of World War II.

Some area residents got to hear from a man who experienced that battle firsthand.

The generation that fought World War II is disappearing, that’s what makes events like this even more important.

Caledonia resident Bradford Freeman wasn’t just a witness to history. He helped make it.

Imagine jumping out of a plane, parachuting into a field behind enemy lines.

Bradford Freeman doesn’t have to imagine. Nearly 75 years ago a 19-year-old Freeman did just that, jumping into Nazi-occupied France.

It was the early morning of June 6, 1944. D-Day.

“I went and found out about all the rest of the boys and they decided to take their big guns and take 13 boys they took them and the rest of us stayed in the service,” said veteran Bradford Freeman.

Those “boys” and Freeman belonged to Company E, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, of the 101st Airborne, one of most famous regiments from the war.

On his blazer are the achievements and memories of his service. Those achievements include the Battle of the Bulge and liberating Concentration Camps.

The Caledonia veteran continues to travel the world, sharing those memories and inspiring others with his service.

Every now and then he teams back up with his Band of Brothers to talk about the days they served together.

“We had a reunion every year but one and that was the first year after the war we got home,” said Freeman.

Mr. Freeman returned to Europe just last year as part of the Band of Brothers Tour sponsored by the World War II Museum.