North Bay WWII vet heads to Normandy for D-Day anniversary
Longtime Marin resident Dan Dougherty, 99, helped liberate the Dachau and Allach concentration camps.
Longtime Marin resident and concentration camp liberator Dan Dougherty will join a veterans’ expedition to France to take part in a D-Day anniversary event.
Dougherty — who turned 99 on Thursday — served in World War II and was a part of the liberation of the Dachau and Allach concentration camps. It will be his first time in Normandy since he landed there with an American force in the weeks following the historic Allied invasion of Europe on June 6, 1944.
“The birthday and the trip just happened to coincide,” Dougherty said. “I’ve never seen the American cemeteries and the various beaches at Omaha and the rest. Everyone I know who has been there says it is a moving experience and I expect it will be for me too.”
Dougherty, a Marin resident for nearly 40 years who now lives in Fairfield, will be joined on the trip by his son, Novato resident Phil Dougherty.
“What he endured at such a young age is humbling and impressive,” Phil Dougherty said. “He’s chronicled his experiences thoroughly over the years and is a wonderful storyteller. It will be memorable to see him connect with fellow veterans and a great privilege for me to listen in.”
The event at the American Cemetery in Normandy, France, will commemorate the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. Seventy American WWII veterans have been invited on the tour. President Joe Biden and France President Emmanuel Macron are expected to attend. The event also will feature a joint choir of U.S. military academies at the historic Cathedral Notre Dame Bayeux.
The honor flight group — which includes about 70 World War II veterans — departed on a donated charter from Dallas on Thursday. Sightseeing and a wreath laying event were planned for Paris over the weekend. The group is set to spend several days in Normandy beginning Tuesday. The delegation is due back in the U.S. on Saturday.
The event was organized by American Airlines and the Old Glory Honor Flight, a nonprofit based in Wisconsin.
“We’re honored to play a part in helping this group of heroic veterans return to Normandy,” said David Seymour, an Army veteran who is chief operating officer of American Airlines. “This special journey is not only an expression of our gratitude for these heroes and the sacrifices they made for our freedom, but we hope to help shine a light on their extraordinary stories and preserve their legacies for generations to come.”
The D-Day invasion, code-named Operation Neptune, involved 24,000 American, British and Canadian troops. They landed on 50-mile stretch of coast divided into the beaches of Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword.
An estimated 4,414 Allied soldiers died as a result of the landings, which cleared the way for a foothold against the Nazis in the ensuing months before the end of the war in Europe.
Dougherty landed in Cherbourg, a region of Normandy, in September 1944.
“I was grateful I was not involved in the initial landing because the casualty rate was so high,” he said.
Dougherty was awarded the Legion of Honor by the Consul General of France in 2017. The Legion of Honor is France’s highest order of merit. He plans to wear the medal for the event.
“It feels appropriate,” Dougherty said.
Dougherty said much of his European war tour was spent in France. He said he was excited to return, especially given the conditions he experienced — what he called the “worst European winter in 40 years” in Alsace and the Vosges mountains.
“I look back and think how I ever survived that,” he said.
He also said he plans to visit the grave of his uncle, Francis Dougherty, a West Point graduate killed in action as a captain commanding a 3rd Division battalion in France. His uncle is buried in the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery in France. He has visited the grave twice.
In recent years, Dougherty has been commended for his role in the liberation of the Dachau and Allach concentration camps. He visited Germany last year to provide an account of his experience.
Dougherty observed the horrors of genocide during his approximately two-day stay at the concentration camps. His recollections are sharp, with detail of the atrocities, but also of the dignity of the people who experienced them.
Dachau, the first of the Nazi concentration camps, was established near Munich in 1933. The fall of the camps came weeks before Victory in Europe Day on May 8, 1945. More than 40,000 people died in the camp.
Dougherty grew up in Austin, Minnesota, and joined the Army just after finishing high school in 1943. He was a staff sergeant and member of C Company, 157th Infantry Regiment, 45th Division of the 7th Army during the liberation of Dachau.
During his service, he was wounded in fighting along the German border and participated in the capture of Nuremberg. After confronting corpses and other atrocities at Dachau, Dougherty and Army soldiers liberated the Allach-Karlsfeld concentration camp.
Back in the United States after the war, Dougherty worked in the insurance industry and has been a documentarian of his wartime experiences. He has been married to his wife Norma for 72 years and has seven grandchildren.
Sean Stephens, Marin County’s veterans service officer, said there are about 10,000 veterans countywide, and about 1,100 served during World War II.
“The 80th anniversary of D-Day is an important event,” he said. “The D-Day invasion showed American might and willpower to fight, not to mention, at all costs.”
