Shay, who grew up on Indian Island, near Old Town, was an Army medic during the invasion of Normandy in World War II. He spent his final years in France.
world war II
Posted inMaine, The Franklin Journal
Farmington veteran recalls role as ball turret gunner in World War II
Wallace Goldfarb, 102, was one of the few who survived as ball turret gunners, flying 34 combat missions over France and Germany in one of the most dangerous duty assignments during the war.
advertisement
Posted inAndroscoggin County, Maine
Sabattus man is the new namesake of North Carolina’s Fort Bragg
World War II Pfc. Roland L. Bragg lived in Maine until his 1999 death and is remembered as a hero. He replaces the fort’s original namesake, Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg.
Posted inMaine, News
WWII veteran and native Mainer celebrates 103rd birthday
Battalion Sgt. Maj. Jim Mardin served in the Army in an anti-aircraft unit, disembarking onto Omaha Beach in Normandy on June 12, 1944.
Posted inMaine, News
This Maine man lost his brother during WWII. He’s still searching for answers.
Eighty years after Elmer Wright was presumed dead off the coast of Tunisia, his younger brother fought to get his true service recognized – even if it meant finding out he died by friendly fire.
Posted inFood
A Maine professor spent a month in Poland making bagels and searching for his past
University of Maine at Augusta history professor Robert Bernheim hoped bagel diplomacy could help repair some deep wounds left by the Holocaust.
Posted inHealth, Nation / World, News
This nurse began working at hospital during WWII and hasn’t stopped. She’s 97.
“I love people, and my health is good, so I’m happy to do what I can,” said Grace Carr, of Allentown, Pennsylvania, who has worked at the same hospital for 80 years.
Posted inMaine, Nation / World, News
On D-Day, a young medic from Maine, Charles Shay, was ready to give his life and save others
Shay was awarded the Silver Star as well as France’s highest honor for repeatedly plunging into the sea and carrying critically wounded soldiers to relative safety, saving them from drowning.
Posted inNation / World, News
A mass parachute jump over Normandy kicks off commemorations for the 80th anniversary of D-Day
The ever-dwindling number of veterans in their late nineties and older who are coming back to remember fallen friends and their history-changing exploits are the last.
Posted inNation / World, News
80th anniversary of the ‘Great Escape’ from Nazi German POW camp marked in Poland
Most of the soldiers who escaped from Stalag Luft III on the night of March 24, 1944, faced a tragic end. Only three made it to safety. The others were recaptured and 50 of them were executed.