D-Day Veteran From Minnesota Returns To Normandy For 1st Time In 75 Years
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- For one Minnesota native, today marked a return to a place he hadn't been in 75 years.
Jake Larson, who is originally from Minnesota, now has a great life in California with nine grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren, but D-Day was a moment that changed his life forever.
Larson was 21 years old when he stormed Omaha Beach with his army unit. When he was fighting, he said he remembers 2,400 rounds firing at him at any one time.
Larson returned to Omaha Beach at 96 years old.
"It's one of the most unbelievable things that can ever happen to me," Larson said of stepping foot on the beach. "I never figured I'd be even living this long."
Larson grew up in Owatonna. We're told he likes to try and get back home in the summer for the Steele County Fair.
He says he's also working on a book about his time in WWII titled "The Luckiest Man in the World."