The headstone for George Jarvis, a Connecticut soldier who died in World War II.
The team from Central State Connecticut University covering the 70th Anniversary of D-Day has arrived and are visiting the Normandy Cemetery, where they are visiting the graves of Connecticut soldiers who died during World War II and are are buried there. These photos were taken from the @ccsuatdday70 Twitter feed, which can be followed on this page, or on Twitter.
So far, they have visited the graves of
- Leo Zlotowski who, according to the Meriden Record Journal, was from Meriden, CT. According to a historian hired by Meriden to compile records about World War II, Zlotowski was one of 146 people from Meriden who died in World War II, when the record was compiled in 1945.
- George L. Jarvis, Private First Class, U.S. Army, 117th Infantry Regiment, 30th Infantry Division who died on July 25, 1944. He is buried in Plot H Row 7 Grave 19 at the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France. He was awarded the Purple Heart, according to the American Battles Monument Commission (ABMC).
According to the ABMC, the Purple Heart is “awarded to members of the Armed Forces of the United States who after 5 April 1917 have been wounded or killed in action against an enemy of the United States or an opposing armed force, while serving with friendly foreign forces engaged in an armed conflict, as the result of acts of enemy or hostile opposing forces, as a result of terrorist attacks or attacks on peacekeeping forces since 28 March 1973, or by friendly fire in circumstance as described above.”
Vivian Martin, a CCSU professor, head of the CCSU journalism department, and the project director for the CCSU D-Day 70 trip, said “It’s a really sobering experience to see all those grave markers of men who died on the beaches.”
The first grave of a Connecticut soldier that I’ve found. #DDay70 #CCSUDDay70 pic.twitter.com/glFpTt7YKo
— ccsuatdday70 (@ccsuatdday70) June 5, 2014