Hundreds of veterans from all branches of the military gathered in Welcome, North Carolina, Wednesday morning. Together they remembered D-Day and the Normandy landings which took place 74 years ago.
Veterans at the Richard Childress Racing building clapped along as they heard the armed service songs for each military branch. They shared coffee and stories here and commemorated June 6, 1944 - a turning point in World War II known as D-Day.
Dewitt Wells was 18 then and serving with the 90th Infantry Division. He recalls what it was like to be on the beaches of Normandy.
“The water wasn't very warm," he says. "We jumped off the boat, into the water, and waded in and crawled up on the shore. And from there we just took off for France.”
Wells says he didn't know the significance of that day at the time. He says he was simply focused on staying alive.
"There's very little that goes through your mind when you're in a situation like that...and you have one thing to think about and that's staying alive. I think that was my main concern, was staying alive," he says.
Wells is 93 now. He honors the anniversary of D-Day by talking to friends and family each year.
The event that brought him and so many others out is part of a monthly veterans coffee organized by Hospice and Palliative CareCenter and Rowan Hospice and Palliative Care.