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Westport Library To Consider Black Heroes Of D-Day

WESTPORT, Conn. -- As part of the WestportREADS 2016 focus on "Miracle at St. Anna" by James McBride, photographer and journalist Linda Hervieux will talk about her book "Forgotten: The Untold Story of D-Day’s Black Heroes, at Home and at War." 

Linda Hervieux

Linda Hervieux

Photo Credit: Contributed photo

The event will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 9, in the Westport Library’s McManus Room.

Books will be available for purchase and signing at the program, which is free and open to the public.

The injustices of Jim Crow America in the 1940s are brought to life in this blend of military and social history—a story that pays tribute to the valor of an all-black battalion that made crucial contributions at D-Day.

In the early hours of June 6, 1944, the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, a unit of African-American soldiers, landed on the beaches of France. Their orders were to man a curtain of armed balloons meant to deter enemy aircraft.

One member of the 320th would be nominated for the Medal of Honor, an award he would never receive because the nation’s highest decoration was not given to black soldiers in World War II.

The book offers an account of the tension between racial politics and national service in wartime America, and a moving narrative of human bravery and perseverance in the face of injustice.

"Forgotten is an utterly compelling account of the African Americans who played a crucial and dangerous role in the invasion of Europe … The story of their heroic duty is long overdue," said Tom Brokaw, bestselling author of "The Greatest Generation."

Hervieux is a journalist and photographer whose work has appeared in the New York Times, The International Herald Tribune, the New York Daily News and Fodor’s Paris guide, among other publications. This is her first book.

For additional information about the event, call 203-291-4800, or check westportlibrary.org.

The Westport Library is at 20 Jesup Road, Westport.

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