Dame Vera Lynn, who died on June 18, 2020 at age 103, inspired millions of people in Great Britain and the United States through the darkest days of World War II. 

On June 6, 1944, news of the Normandy invasion spread through German prisoner-of-war camps like wildfire, igniting hope in Allied POWs. 

On Memorial Day and every day, the name of Richard McCurdy, killed in action during Operation Torch, and other boys like him should be kept alive and their sacrifices and those of their families remembered. They were and are part of a nation, a city, a neighborhood, and a family.

WWII veteran's donated memoir recalls Pacific island fighting. 

This column is the last of three D-Day columns written by war correspondent Ernie Pyle describing the Allied invasion of Normandy.