A Chattanoogan will be in a lead role for an historic re-enactment of D-Day parachute landings on the beaches of Normandy.
Major Jeremy Bowling, who is stationed with the 82nd Airborne at Fort Bragg, N.C., will be among those parachuting to the beaches, and he will stay with a family in Normandy as will other top officers.
"I'm honored to be able to take part in this once-in-a-lifetime event and to pay tribute to those in the Greatest Generation who risked their lives to maintain freedom," Major Bowling said.
He said the June 6 re-enactment will be patterned after the exact beaches and towns where the original parachutists landed.
Mayor Bowling, who went to Bess T. Shepherd Elementary, Tyner Junior High and Baylor School, leaves June 1 for the historic experience. The trip is for 10 days.
He said a similar re-enactment is carried out every five years.
This is the 70th anniversary of D-Day.
His mother, Betty Jo Smith, noted that her grandfather fought in the Civil War and her father in World War I. Her two older brothers were in World War II.
"We come from a big family of military people," she said.