The commemoration of D-Day this year marks a special one for Susan Lawrence, and not just because it’s the 75th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy.
For Lawrence, it’s also the first one when the remains of her two uncles are lying side by side at the Normandy American Cemetery in France.
“It means a lot to our family,” she told USA TODAY. “It’s beyond words.”
Twins Julius H.O. “Henry” Pieper and Ludwig J.W. “Louie” Pieper were 19 years old when the ship they were aboard hit a German mine and sank off the coast of Normandy on June 19, 1944.
Lawrence said they had four siblings – including her mother, who told her the twins were very close and “went practically everywhere together.”
“When something happened to one of the twins, even if one was working in another area, then the same thing would happen to the other,” she said.
Lawrence, their niece, traveled to Normandy for his burial there last June. Cemetery officials moved his twin’s remains so they could be side by side. She won’t be traveling to France for this year’s anniversary but said she will never forget the ceremony last year.
“You almost feel like it's holy ground,” she said. “It’s almost like when you go there, you’re living it. You can see as many movies as you want to, but once you’re there, and it’s like, this is the beach, that they came in on, it’s just overwhelming.”