Alabama gave more than a helping hand on D-Day to help defend America

MONTGOMERY, Ala. ( WIAT ) — It’s been 80 years since Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy.

According to the Eisenhower Presidential Library, D-Day was the largest amphibious invasion in military history. Alabama lent more than a helping hand to help defend America that day.

“That’s the incredible bit about what Alabama does and what they offer,” said Ryan Blocker, museum collections coordinator at the Alabama Department of Archives. “Not only their soldiers, but industry itself.”

She said D-Day was the beginning of the end of World War II. One of the goods used on D-Day was the Alabama-made floating smoke pot. Blocker explained the device was used to limit the enemy’s vision.

“Of the million floating pots that were made during the D-Day invasion to create a smoke screen, the majority of them were made in Alabama,” Blocker said

Zell Railey served in the 101st Airborne Division in Afghanistan from 2010-11. He said his same division secured bridges and canals on D-Day.

“The hundred and first jumped into the area behind Utah Beach, which is behind the Cotentin Peninsula,” Railey said. “It’s a very low-lying area, very high water table, and the Germans would actually flood a lot of the fields to impede progress.”

He also said that he is honored to have served in such a distinguished unit.

“There’s a saying in the military: No plan survives contact with the enemy. And it doesn’t,” Railey said. “So you plan, you prepare, you do your best, so you can execute the mission that you need to.

Alabama National Guard Col. Dewana Butler said freedom rings because of the brave souls on D-Day.

“Without those sacrifices, I would not be here,” Butler said. “There were so many heroes that came from out of World War II that we look back on and that we study in all of our military courses. To know that if they could do it, then yes, we could do it also.”

Railey said Americans have days like June 6, 1944, to remember, but Americans need to remember veterans every day.

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