Chapter 10
Normandy Tour — 2002
Page 1 of 4

Editor’s Introduction

As some of our readers may already know, the City of Little Falls,
Minnesota, has a unique connection with the Charles A. Lindbergh
story. Charles spent a considerable part of his early developmental
years in the Little Falls area. His boyhood home on the banks of
the Mississippi River has evolved into a popular Minnesota
Historical Society “Historic Site” with a restored
Boyhood Home and a beautiful and
interesting Interpretive Center.

Since the mid-1980’s the Little Falls community has developed a
sister city relationship with the LeBourget, France, community (Lindbergh
landed his Spirit of St. Louis at the LeBourget airport at the completion
of his historic flight.) Early on in this relationship my wife and I had
the pleasure of hosting the mayor and his wife of LeBourget
in our home during one of the exchange visits. Nell
and I returned the visit to LeBourget,
France, in 1987.

The community of Little Falls, The Minnesota Historical Society
and The Charles A. and Anne Morrow Lindbergh Foundation cooperated
in the development of a 75th Anniversary celebration of CAL’s return to
Little Falls in the Spirit of St. Louis in August 1927, as part of his 48
state tour. As a preparation for this event, a number of local citizens
from Little Falls visited LeBorget in June of 2002. Ronn Niewohner
and his wife, Jan Stay, along with fellow citizens Urban and Carol
Otremba, were a part of that group. While in France, they paid a
memorable visit to the D-Day invasion beaches, memorials and
related communities. They have offered to share some of their
photos and accumulated data with us to complement this
D-Day Memorial to our mutual friend, Norman Arvidson.
Permit me to introduce some of that group to you.

Above: Jan Stay and husband, Ronn Niewohner Below: Little Falls community members visit the LeBourget Aviation History Museum	Above, L to R: Urban and Carol Otremba, Elaine Westerdahl-Delaney, Jan Stay, Ronn Niewohner, Joyce Moran and son, Matt Moran, of Little Falls. Below: Little Falls visitors and LeBourget Friends visit the Eiffel Tower.

Introductory Comments by Jan Stay and husband, Ronn Niewohner.

Our trip to France began on June 24, 2002. After much planning we were
really on our way. We would be spending the next week in our sister city
LeBourget, France with a host family. The week was fantastic. We did a
lot of sightseeing, and also met some new friends. When leaving
LeBourget, we, (Ronn Niewohner, Jan Stay, Carol and Urban Otremba)
had already made plans to spend the next week in Normandy, France and
visit the D-Day Beaches. When leaving LeBourget, we were accompanied
by a dear new friend named GeGe who traveled with us as our guide
and interpreter. The week we spent visiting Normandy was a
very moving experience for all of us.

Please join us as we visit the “Gold,” “Omaha” and “Utah” beach areas
where British and our own U.S. troops landed on D-Day.

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