On June 6, 1944, the Germans had occupied Dany’s town for four years. She’d grown up knowing nothing but food rations and Nazi rule. As the US servicemen landed on France’s Utah Beach and streamed through Ste. Marie du Mont, many stooped to give her candy, gum, and chocolate–delights the five-year-old had never before experienced. It signaled a turn in life as she knew it…a new world of freedom, gratitude, and opportunity. And it forged a life-long bond with the servicemen who liberated her community. This clip is bittersweet as we mourn the death of one of our dedicated re-enactors. Daniel Madelaine succumbed to cancer in 2018. We were honored to work with him this summer in Normandy, and he will be dearly missed.