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May 09, 2023

Guest column

Plane crash investigation; Pride Month celebration In commemoration of the 79th

Plane crash investigation; Pride Month celebration

In commemoration of the 79th anniversary of the Allied landings on the beaches of Normandy, I’d like to share an incredible story which developed on a family trip to France in 2008. My wife and I had an opportunity to travel with our high school-age children as probably one of the few remaining times to travel together before they graduated from high school and left home for college or life on their own.

Now, I need to explain, our kids were not sold on the need for a family trip to such a distant place. Once we landed in France and they realized their cell phones weren't working and the internet wasn't available to access the world that they knew, their reaction was strong and sour. They dolefully asked us, "Why did you bring us here?" I don't remember our response at that moment, but I do know what I was thinking. I wanted my kids to see the world, to experience different cultures and to appreciate history and the events that have shaped it. At one point later in our trip, I tried to connect their Charlottesville home life to their current location and situation in France. I mentioned a person from Charlottesville who was far from home and buried in the American Cemetery at Omaha Beach. I only knew of him from reading a plaque on the grounds of the University of Virginia. He is Tech Sgt. Frank Peregory.

On the evening of our arrival in Normandy, we drove through farmland along narrow winding roads to the coastal town of Vierville on the western edge of Omaha Beach. On that beach, at low tide with a glowing sunset at 10 p.m., two travel-weary high school runners jogged for miles.

The next day, we visited the American Cemetery in Colleville sur Mer. It was a sunny, warm June day. The cemetery sits on the bluff above Omaha Beach with views of the English Channel. For our kids to have a meaningful purpose during their time there, I suggested we look for Peregory's grave marker amidst the thousands of white marble markers in the cemetery. I was hoping to make a connection to their lives in Charlottesville. Here was a young man not much older than they, and his life is memorialized there for his service, courage and sacrifice.

The medals of Tech Sgt. Frank Peregory sit in a display case at the American Cemetery in Normandy.

Prior to entering the cemetery, a building containing displays, pictures and videos effectively conveyed the significance and reverence of the location. As I rounded one display, my eyes caught another that had pictures, medals and story about a particular soldier. That particular soldier, whose medals were on display, happened to be Peregory.

In silence we read, and in silence we walked into the cemetery, where row upon row of white marble markers stood in line. With each step as we walked, the grave markers lined up in ever-changing patterns in all directions. The changing patterns gave a sense of life and movement among the stationary markers which all solemnly stand at attention.

A map of the cemetery helped us find the specific grave marker for Peregory. The 10,000 white marble markers are each engraved with a soldier's name, his rank, his state and the date he died, but Peregory's is not only engraved. His marker also has each letter and number painted in gold. Peregory is distinguished with a Congressional Medal of Honor, and the gold paint shows that distinction. He's a decorated hero from our hometown of Charlottesville.

(A note: The recipient of a Congressional Medal of Honor will be saluted first by generals, by all military officers and by all soldiers out of respect for the recipient's heroic display of service.)

The grave marker of Tech Sgt. Frank Pegegory is in the American Cemetery in Normandy.

Five months after our time at Normandy, our family was back into life in Charlottesville. Our son John, now a high school senior, had to do some community service hours for school. As a musician, he looked for a way to utilize his enjoyment of music as a community service opportunity. Both John and a friend decided to go to a local nursing home to play music and sing with residents as their community service work. After their performance, they spent some time visiting with the residents. John talked with one gentleman named Don.

As they talked, John learned Don had a brother who died in WWII and was buried in the American Cemetery in France. John knew all about the American Cemetery in France. John's interest peaked when Don mentioned his brother was awarded a Congressional Medal of Honor.

Incredibly, Don was the younger brother of Frank Peregory, whose grave we found in Normandy. But, Don's last name was actually Peregoy. It seems that Frank Peregory had changed his last name so he could enlist in the military at a younger age.

John asked Peregoy if he had ever seen his brother's grave in France. "No", Don said. He had never been there.

A week later, John returned to visit Peregoy with pictures from France.

Bruce Barclay lives in Charlottesville and works in the travel business at Charlottesville Albemarle Airport.

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Plane crash investigation; Pride Month celebration