Catholic Community Foundation

Remembering D-Day

Yesterday we remembered the 81st anniversary of D-Day, when American troops stormed Normandy Beach in France and turned the tide of World War II. As I have written several times before, my father was a WWII veteran, as were his four brothers, including my Uncle Willie Irby, who won a Silver Star for his gallantry in action serving in the 120th Infantry Regiment, 30th Infantry Division in November 1944. My dad, Jack, and Uncle Willie’s twin brother, Wesley, served together as occupation troops in Japan. As I get older, I grow only more impressed, appreciative, and humbled by their service to our country. I can also only imagine what it must have been like for their parents to have five boys in the Army in WWII. Sadly, their brother Francis Marion, became ill overseas and passed away from that illness. (The facts are a little fuzzy, since the surviving brothers rarely if ever talked about the war, but some of my older cousins think he had meningitis.)

To those of you reading this who served or supported family members who served, thank you. We owe you our freedom.

God Bless,

Margaret

Margaret Keightley
Executive Director
Catholic Community Foundation of the Diocese of Richmond

P.S. Since I gave you the preview of the Ordination happening today (Saturday,) the diocese has published short videos in which each man talks about their journey to the priesthood: https://www.youtube.com/@DioceseOfRichmond

And, for your convenience, here is the link to the livestream of the Ordination. https://richmonddiocese.org/livestream/