Public Relations - In The News

Return to Normandy
Joseph B. Nadeau, Staff Writer 05/25/2006

WOONSOCKET -- The bad memories of the early hours of D-Day will always be there. Nothing will ever change that for Richard D. Fazzio of 319 Mowry St.

But thanks to a visit back to Normandy this spring, Fazzio has a new outlook on his role in the Allied invasion of Nazi-held France 62 years ago.
Fazzio returned to Normandy as part of Providence film producer Tim Gray’s work on a project honoring Rhode Island veterans of the invasion, and will be on the big screen at the Stadium Theatre this Sunday when the hourlong documentary "D-Day +62; Rhode Island Veterans Return to Normandy" debuts. It will also air on WJAR-TV (Channel 10) in observance of this year’s anniversary of D-Day on June 6.

"It brought back a lot of what I went through, but I’m glad that I went," Fazzio said about his participation in the new documentary.

Fazzio joined four other Rhode Island veterans of the invasion -- Frank Chomka, 83, of Mendon Road, Cumberland; Wilson Delasanta, of New Clark Road, Cumberland; Leo Heroux, of Central Falls; and Chris Heisler, of Wakefield -- in making the trip, and will be featured with several other Rhode Islanders with connections to D-Day in the completed project.

The Stadium debut begins with a musical program at 1:30 p.m. There will be a short speaking program including remarks by former mayor Francis L. Lanctot and French Consul General in Boston Francois Gauthier at 2 p.m., followed by the showing of the documentary.

In the years since the war, the memories of piloting a Navy Higgins boat in the first wave of landings on Omaha Beach were Fazzio’s only link to Normandy. He remembers the 38 soldiers huddled in the landing craft as he piloted it toward Omaha, and still sees what happened to them as the boat’s crew dropped the gate and they exited into German machine gun fire.

Fazzio was hit by a bullet as he sat at the boat’s controls, but was able to get it headed back to his ship before giving into the wound. His most lasting memory of the day is that none of the soldiers he delivered to Normandy appeared to have survived the landing.

Gray’s documentary will show how Omaha still holds sadness for the old Navy man, and how even its now- peaceful and scenic expanse cannot erase all that went on before.

But for Fazzio, the trip gave him new understanding of those experiences; a new context, so to speak, provided by the French people he met while making the tour through Normandy.

"We were treated like royalty while we were there because the French people really appreciate what we did," Fazzio said.

Just about everyone the veterans bumped into while in France praised what they had done for the country 62 years ago, and what amazed Fazzio the most was the attention they were given by Normandy’s schoolchildren.

"They came running up to meet us and even kids in the third grade knew what Normandy was all about," Fazzio said.

The good treatment in France also meant plenty of good food, wine and champagne for the liberators. "We were hugged and kissed and thanked a lot," he said. "They were just great."

Fazzio hasn’t seen Gray’s footage of Normandy, but expects it will show some of his reactions to the return to Omaha.

"When I first got there, I kind of broke down, I can tell you that," he said.

The group also toured the American Cemetery at Normandy and went to the grave of Maurice Gauthier, a city native, in another emotional experience.

Gray, a former Channel 10 News reporter and anchor, had interviewed Gauthier’s sister, Jacqueline (Gauthier) Auclair, as part of his work on the documentary, and she is expected to recount the costs of D-Day on the families back at home. Her brother went ashore at Utah Beach on D-Day and was killed during the fighting inland on July 19.

Like Fazzio, Delasanta hasn’t yet seen Gray’s finished program, but said Monday he expects it will be well worth the effort behind it. "He put a lot of time into this," Delasanta said of Gray. The producer also had the help of former Channel 10 videographer and program editor Jim Karpeichik, and was assisted in arranging the veterans’ contributions by Eugene Peloquin, a retired principal of North Smithfield’s Halliwell Elementary School, Delasanta said while commending their contributions.

Delasanta had made an earlier to trip to Normandy several years ago with his son David, and was prepared for how things have changed from the day he cowered under a sand berm after arriving on the beach.

"Everything is different than what it was that day," he said. "It is a beautiful beach with nice sand."

But the best part of the trip for Delasanta was the people he met along the way. They took great notice of the veterans and assisted them whenever they could, he said.

"The people were great. I can’t say enough about them," he said. They clearly understood the cost of D-Day and showed that to the veterans when they met, he said.

As of Monday, Gray was still working on the documentary’s final cut, but said he expects all to be ready for Sunday’s debut.

"This week we’re kind of tweaking it a bit," he said of the ongoing work.

As for the veterans he took back to Normandy, Gray said it appeared they found the journey a worthwhile one. "They all came back with a smile, which says a lot about the French and how they treated them," he said.

The film will contain the sad emotions of remembrance Fazzio faced while standing on Omaha, but Gray said that was something he knew he would see while planning the visit.

"You don’t live through something like that and see what he saw and not become emotional about it," the producer said.

The benefit comes when a veteran like Fazzio also sees such costs in human life are still honored even today. "The French think of these guys like heroes," he said. To the French, D-Day’s survivors still stand tall and still represent freedom from repression, according to the producer.

"They are still young guys who came over and liberated their country," he said.