Tina Clark , was astonished when she learned just that she is remotely related to a man who gave his life to free , Europe , from the Nazis. He was an aristocracy U. S. Army Ranger. A warrior.
On top of that, Clark discovered she works in the same , Columbus , high class Pfc.  , Fred Plumlee , attended until his freshman season in 1943. From a partner at , Jordan Vocational High School College , and , Career Academy, Clark obtained a magazine photo showing Plumlee shouldering a shotgun and standing at attention in the ROTC color watch. Lumlee was killed two years after the publication of that image. New- faced, he was only 19.
An educational professor, Clark said she and her friends are happy of Plumlee’s devotion on D- Time. It is something she said she will reveal on during , Memorial Day.
” To know that we have somebody like that in our home, of course, makes , Memorial Day , much more important for us”, said Clark, whose family is Plumlee’s daughter. ” We are definitely going to think differently about , Memorial Day , from now on. That is for confident”.
The United States , and its allies are preparing to mark the 80th commemoration of D- Time, the , June 6, 1944 , marine, weather and terrain assault on Nazi- occupied , France. A number of activities will be held in memory of Plumlee and the countless other service members who perished in the war.
On , June 5, Gen.  , Michael Kurilla, who leads , U. S.  , Central Command, did talk at an event on the European coastline recognizing Plumlee and the other Rangers who participated in D- Time. The following morning, President , Joe Biden , and French President , Emmanuel Macron , are expected to title a meeting near at , Normandy American Cemetery, where Plumlee and more than 9, 000 other Americans are memorialized.
A turning place in World War II, D- Day should be remembered as” the lid of current history”, said , Charles Djou, who leads the , American Battle Monuments Commission, the organization responsible for the , French American Cemetery.
” Everything in this world today and how the present world is organized, I think, probably may be drawn to that one morning,  , June 6, 1944″, said Djou, a , U. S. Army Reserve , commander who has deployed to , Afghanistan. The hinge was purchased at a significant individual expense, the author claims.
One of Plumlee’s most challenging missions was to climb and capture the cliffs at Pointe et  and Raz de la Percée while being surrounded by European enthralled snipers and system gunners. As they landed on the European shores, some Rangers suffered injuries or fatalities.
Plumlee is among more than 200 U. S. military officers who entered company in , Georgia , and who are memorialized at the , Normandy American Cemetery, according to Djou’s fee. Of those, 18, including Plumlee, were killed on the first day of the allied war.
Plumlee enlisted in March of 1943 at Fort McPherson in , Atlanta, according to data the , American Battle Monuments Commission  , found on , ancestrylibrary .com. The agency’s seek even yielded records tracking him to , Jordan Vocational High School , in , Columbus.
Clark learned about her relations to Plumlee after , The Atlanta Journal- Constitution , asked her large college for more information about him.  , B. Ryan Willoughby, Jordan Vocational High School’s CEO, started digging. Finally, he found Plumlee’s magazine pictures and a monument written more two decades later by the group of 1943. It says Plumlee served in the student federal and was the brother of Mr. and Mrs.  , F. J. Plumlee , and the nephew of , Irene Plumlee , and , Pauline Mask. Mask’s child,  , Margaret Fry, is Clark’s family. Clark said that until Clark learned about Plumlee this quarter, she and her mom had never spoken. Clark added she was told Plumlee’s dying devastated her mother.
” They were evidently quite close. She simply did not do well to discuss it in any way, according to Clark. ” She loved him pretty much”.
For Clark, learning about her relation to Plumlee for the first time was beautifully satisfying.
” We just had no concept truly how far- reaching points were”, she said. The size of the earth shocked us greatly.
Georgia’s Role in World War II
- About 320, 000 Citizens served in the , U. S.  , military during World War II.
- Two flying troops that trained at , Camp Toccoa , in , North Georgia , and three from , Fort Benning, then called Fort Moore, parachuted into , France , on D- Time.
- 5, 701 , U. S.  , men from , Georgia , were killed during the conflict.
- More than 200 U. S. military officers who entered company in , Georgia , are memorialized at the , Normandy American Cemetery , in , France. Of those, 18 died on D- Morning.
- As of 2023, there were 2, 362 surviving WWII soldiers in , Georgia.
Solutions: New Georgia Encyclopedia, Georgia National Guard History Blog,  , U. S. Army Center of Military History, the , American Battle Monuments Commission  , and the , National World War II Museum.
Unique D- Time Documentary Screening in , Atlanta
To commemorate the 80th anniversary of D- Day, the , Plaza Theater , in , Atlanta , is screening the documentary,” The Girl Who Wore Freedom”, on , June 6 , at , 5: 30 p. m.  , Tickets are$ 5 each. Find tickets and enjoy the trailer , around.
©2024 The Atlanta Journal- Constitution. Visit at , ajc.com. Distributed by , Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
