A replica set of Emil Kuchan's ID tags sit on the beach at Normandy France. Sgt. Maj. Chris Kohunsky placed his maternal grandfather's tags there for a photo during a visit to the famous WWII landing site in 2020.
June 6, 2024, marked the 80th anniversary of Operation Overlord – the World War II Allied forces invasion of Normandy, France. Now known as D-Day, the landings on the beaches of Normandy were the beginning of the lengthy and costly campaign to liberate northwest Europe.
The D-Day invasion included more than 150,000 Allied troops. Among the troops was Emil J. Kuchan, the maternal grandfather of Sgt. Maj. Chris Kohunsky who currently serves as the Combined Arms Center-Training Senior Enlisted Advisor at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
Emil J. Kuchan, the maternal grandfather of Sgt. Maj. Chris Kohunsky who currently serves as the Combined Arms Center-Training Senior Enlisted Advisor at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
To mark the anniversary, Kohunsky shared some photos of his own visit to the famous WWII site, as well as memories passed on to him by his grandfather.
Kohunsky said his grandfather spent 10 days crossing the Atlantic Ocean on the British ocean liner MV Britannic that had been converted into a troopship for the war. Kuchan was later sent to Scotland and Northern Ireland for mine clearing training, he was an engineer.
Combined Arms Center-Training Senior Enlisted Advisor Sgt. Maj. Chris Kohunsky poses for a photo during a visit to the famous WWII D-Day landing site in Normandy, France in 2020.
On D-Day, Kuchan landed on Omaha Beach, in the third wave with the 29th Infantry Division. Kohunsky said his grandfather later talked about being pinned down on the beach and that he refused to believe that any general stood upright on the beach to urge men forward, as shown in the 1962 film "The Longest Day."
Kuchan spent the first three days on the beach clearing land mines before moving inland Kohunsky said. He then fought as infantry in St. Lo, France. Kohunsky said his grandfather related that the infamous ‘hedgerow fighting’ was worse than what they experienced on D-Day.
Omaha Beach, Normandy France. Combined Arms Center-Training Senior Enlisted Advisor Sgt. Maj. Chris Kohunsky took this photo during a visit to the famous WWII D-Day landing site in 2020.
Kohunsky said that he loved playing Soldier from a very young age and that he was inspired by both grandparents’ service in WWII (the other, Henry Kohunsky, received commendation from actions at Pearl Harbor and later in Belgium). Kohunsky joined the Army in 1997 and took responsibility as the CAC-T sergeant major in December 2022.
Social Sharing