Members of the Lehighton United Veterans Organization hosted a ceremony in honor of the 75th anniversary of D-Day on Saturday in the borough’s Veterans Memorial Park.

“We are gathered here to honor the fallen dead,” Carl Haydt, Lehighton United Veterans Organization chaplain, prayed at the beginning of the ceremony. “All who paid with their lives in one of the many devilish ways that man has conceived to maim or kill his fellow man. Some of them rest here, others on the ocean floor. Others, still, are but scattered ashes.”

The park sits between Lehigh Drive and Sgt. Stanley Hoffman Boulevard, which is named after a Lehighton native killed in action in February 1944. He was one of 57 men from the area who died in World War II.

“This certainly is a day to remember,” said Kevin “Spike” Long, Lehighton United Veterans Organization commander, said.

Long started his speech by quoting then-president Dwight D. Eisenhower’s order from that deadly day, when Eisenhower told troops “the eyes of the world are upon you. The hope and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.

“Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well-trained, well-equipped and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely.”

And Eisenhower was right.

The June 6 attack claimed more than 4,000 Allied troops alone. More were pronounced missing. Even before the assault took place, 1,000 American servicemen were killed by German torpedoes training for it, during a rehearsal called Operation Tiger.

“That’s why we are here today, to remember those sacrifices and what was done so we could live,” Long said. “You give numbers, and you give statistics. But don’t ever forget that those numbers had a face. They had a name. They had a family. “Those are the men that we are so forever grateful for. May we never forget their sacrifices and never forget the significance of what June 6, 1944 was for all the world.”

Larry Ahner served in the Army for a total of 12 years. He spent two years at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, and another 10 as a first lieutenant in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. He was deployed to Iraq for one year.

But even as a serviceman himself, Ahner said, “It’s hard to understand (what) those brave soldiers experienced as they approached the beaches.”

“It’s hard to comprehend this much loss in just one day,” he told the crowd gathered Saturday.

Some men struggled to speak about their experiences fighting in the war, Ahner said. His two grandfathers, both of whom served in WW II, shared a similar silence about what they had seen.

“For those who have fought for it, freedom has a flavor the protected will never know. Freedom is not free,” Ahner said. “There’s no greater sacrifice than laying down your life for another,” he said.