For over 70 years, Americans have made the pilgrimage to the battlefields of Normandy. Veterans, families of the fallen, and general tourists account for millions of visits each year. One common sentiment felt by all: the warm and loving reception that Americans, still to this day, receive from the Norman people.

On January 30, 2018, a panel presentation addressed the legacy of one remarkable woman, Madame Simone Renaud, whose devotion to a generation of heroes transcended all boundaries, and helped make Americans feel at home in a faraway French land.

Madame Renaud—a native of Sainte-Mère-Église, the first town liberated on D-Day—spent a lifetime tending to the graves of those American soldiers and corresponding with their loved ones back home. She became friend, family, and touchstone to those whose lives were forever changed by D-Day.

This event included a screening of the documentary "Mother of Normandy" (not included in the video below), followed by a discussion with (left to right in above photo) author Jeff Stoffer, Maurice Renaud (son of Madame Simone Renaud), and filmmaker Doug Stebleton.

Shop the Museum Store for Stebleton's "Mother of Normandy" documentary and for Stoffer's book of the same title.