A salute to those who came before

Air Force Reserve Maj. Gen. Wallace “Wade” Farris, Jr., salutes with Jerome Welna, an American World War II Navy veteran June 5, 2012, after presenting a ceremonial wreath in Saint Mere Eglise, France. The wreath was laid to honor both American and Allied forces that were killed during the Normandy D-Day invasion of June 6, 1944. Earlier, service members from several nations, including the U.S., marched through the streets of this Normandy village leading up to an official ceremony commemorating the invasion’s 68th Anniversary. Leadership from the Army and U.S. Air Force, German military and local French elected officials joined with the veterans to lay ceremonial wreaths at the foot of an invasion memorial in the village. Saint Mere Eglise lays claim to being one of the first villages in the Normandy region to be liberated by Allied forces in the early morning hours of June 6, 1944. Farris commands the AF Reserve’s 22nd Air Force and is based at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Ga. Welna served aboard the U.S.S. Barton, a destroyer that supported the Normandy invasion. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Stephen J. Collier)