Bertha Buff of Whittier was not the only one taking pictures of her husband, Paul, (right foreground) as he placed a wreath on the memorial at the American Cemetery in Normandy, France. One of the other photographers was from the Associated Press. The following day, June 7, several AP-affiliated newspapers ran a picture featuring Paul Buff by the memorial.
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"We knew lots of people were taking pictures all around us, but we didn't know one of them would make it to Associated Press," Bertha Buff of Whittier said about her husband, Paul Bluff, placing a wreath on the memorial at the American Cemetery in Normandy, France.
The occasion was June 6, the anniversary of D-Day when many American veterans returned to Normandy's American Cemetery in Colleville Sur Mer to honor their comrades who died 58 years ago. The Buffs first realized the photo made Associated Press when Paul's sister, Nan Moss of Hickory, sent them a clipping from the June 7 Hickory Daily Record. "As soon as I saw the photo I knew it was my brother," said Moss of the photo caption which read, "Unidentified veterans and tourists pray in front of a monument in Normandy's American Cemetery." "It was quite an event," Paul Buff, who was in the U.S. Army's 94th Division attached to Gen. George Patton's Third Army, described the ceremonies. |