D-Day cruise is personal for Rancho Bernardo couple

By Elizabeth Marie Himchak

A Rancho Bernardo couple gained personal insights from the grandchildren of President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Prime Minister Winston Churchill when attending D-Day 70th anniversary events in France.

Kit and Bill Hanvey’s May 19 to June 7 trip to Europe included an eight-day cruise that featured a stop at the Normandy beaches, where 70 years earlier Kit’s father, the late Lt. Col. Louis R. Kent, was among the Allied forces that landed there on June 6, 1944.

At the time of the invasion that led to Germany losing most of its position in France and established a new major front for World War II, then-Maj. Kent was a regimental surgeon and among the more than 130,000 military personnel who landed on D-Day. Within a month, one million landed to fight in the battle.

During his military career, Kent served three years as a medical parachutist and regimental surgeon of the Army’s 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, his daughter said. After the war he was an ophthalmologist in Champaign, Illinois.

Their trip included visiting the Caen/Normandy beaches on June 5, eve of the D-Day anniversary. The itinerary included visiting the American Military Cemetery at St. Laurent, which overlooks Omaha Beach; Pointe du Hoc where American rangers scaled 200 feet to capture German gun emplacements; and attending a special ceremony with a period-airplane fly over and recognition of the military service by cruise members’ relatives.

On June 6, they went to the Portsmouth D-Day Museum in England. They also went to Portsmouth Guildhall and toured Southwick House. Its historic map room served as the top-secret headquarters of the Allied Command’s invasion strategists during the war.

Joining the 220 cruisers — many of whom like Kit are Northwestern University Alumni Association members — were Dwight David Eisenhower II and his wife, Julie Nixon Eisenhower. His grandfather was the Allied Expeditionary Force’s Supreme Commander before becoming a U.S. president and her father was President Richard Nixon. Also on board was Celia Sandys, Churchill’s granddaughter.

David Eisenhower — he goes by his middle name — and Celia Sandys have written several books about their grandfathers’ wartime leadership and were the cruises’ speakers. Eisenhower’s presentations were “Operation Overlord,” about the concept, planning and personalities behind the D-Day invasion; plus “Triumph and Tragedy,” about the big-picture consequences of the Allied Forces’ Normandy landings.

Sandys’ lecture on “The Inspiring Leadership of Winston Churchill” focused on the present-day relevance of her grandfather’s legacy; and “Memories of My Grandfather at Home,” where she shared personal recollections of growing up and traveling with Churchill.

The opportunity to hear both speak in person was a major reason Bill said he wanted to go on the cruise. “I read a lot about history ... and when I found out David Eisenhower was joining us on the cruise it made it very special because I’ve thought so highly of his grandfather.”

Bill said he has read some of Eisenhower’s books and before the trip read his 900-page best-seller, “Eisenhower: At War 1943-1945,” a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in history. Eisenhower teaches history at the University of Pennsylvania.

“One of the biggest surprises was that I assumed they’d speak and then get lost (on the cruise) ... but that was not the way it happened,” Bill said. Instead, he and his wife had opportunities to visit with the trio and take photos. “Julie was just a peach, organizing so many things and posing for pictures.”

“It was fascinating and the experience of a lifetime,” Kit said, adding, “You feel very grateful for the sacrifices people made so we could be free.”

She said their reception by the French and English was especially touching. Many locals dressed in military- or period-style clothing, participated in reenactments and expressed gratitude to the Americans for the United States’ role in World War II.

“The thing that was most memorable was driving through the small towns in France, near Normandy, and almost every home had French, British and American flags and signs (saying) ‘We love America,’” Bill said. “That’s not the feeling you (usually) get in France.”

While the couple has made several trips there, this was their first visit to Normandy. Kit said her parents went there for the D-Day 30th anniversary celebration and her trip 40 years later “fills out the picture” for her. While her father talked “some” about his wartime experiences and D-Day, and growing up she overheard him reminiscing with fellow veterans, she only knew what happened “peripherally ... (because) in general he would not talk about it.”

“This was something we wanted to do for a long time,” Bill said.

“Walking on the Normandy beaches, seeing the bunkers there and thinking that more than one million soldiers had come there was very touching and moving,” he added.