ABINGDON, Va. (WJHL) — 81 years ago, World War II allies invaded Normandy, liberating France and Western Europe, and laying the path to victory.

"We came in on a landing craft with the front down, and we jumped into the water," Army veteran Don Parker recalled of landing on Utah Beach a few days later. "They had some - we'll call them cannons, they may have been 88s. That's what finally hit me. Well, it wasn't exactly comfortable, I don't know how else to describe it. It was bloody, it was messy."

Landing in Normandy is something most people read about in history books, but Parker lived it.

"We crawled in front of Patton's tanks, and we probed with our bayonets to get the pressure bombs that were down under there. We had to get and disable the bombs," he said. "Patton brought his tanks

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