Funeral held in Normandy for last Native American soldier to survive D-Day landings
Charles Norman Shay was among first to land on Omaha beach and a recipient of Silver Star and Legion of Honour medals
A statue of Charles Norman Shay overlooks Omaha beach, where he was mong the first US troops to land on D-Day
Arterra Picture Library / Alamy Stock Photo
Tributes have poured after the last Native American believed to have taken part in D-Day operations was buried in Normandy last week.
Charles Norman Shay died at 101 and was buried in Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer (Calvados) on Friday (December 12), after a funeral for the former soldier was held in Bayeux. He died on December 3.
A medic in the 1st US Infantry, he was among the first wave of soldiers to disembark on Omaha beach and one of 175 Native American soldiers involved in operations on the beachhead on June 6, 1944. In 2017, a statue commemorating these soldiers was erected in the dunes of Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer.
Around 500 Native American soldiers took part in the wider Liberation of France in 1944-1945, with Mr Shay believed to be the last living soldier among them. He had joined the military when he was less than 20 years old.
He had lived in Normandy since 2006, but had visited several times prior to take part in commemorative services for fallen soldiers.
‘A friend of Normandy’
“France honors the memory of Native American Veteran Master Sergeant Charles Norman Shay,” said Minister Delegate for French Armed Forces Alice Rufo on social media on Friday.
“Under intense fire, he rescued and brought to safety numerous seriously wounded comrades, an exceptional act of courage that earned him the Silver Star,” said the Calvados Prefecture, also on Friday.
“Charles Norman Shay leaves to Normandy, to France, and to all those who knew him the legacy of a humble, faithful man, and deeply devoted to peace. France will remember him:
the soldier of June 6, the man committed to his people, the tireless witness, a friend of Normandy. May he rest in peace.”
Following D-Day, Mr Shay took part in several major battles across the Western France until being captured by German forces in March 1945.
Following World War Two, he returned to the US, fighting in the Korean War, although he was not allowed to vote in his home state of Maine until 1954.
“I think this was my destiny… I think I was programmed for my life to go the way it has gone, because so many good things have happened to me and so many bad things. But most of the things that happened to me have been good and positive,” he said in a 2010 interview with the US Veterans History Project.
In 2007, Mr Shay was granted the French Legion of Honour for his wartime service.
