BULLARD, Texas — Black-and-white photos along the wall show gun-toting troops rushing out of amphibious transport vehicles as bullets fly toward them. They wade through water and the blood of their comrades as they race toward their target: the coast of Normandy, France.
Across the room, the fuselage of a green military plane vibrates while the sound of engines emanates through the cabin where troops sat, waiting to jump out and land behind enemy lines. And in the center of the room, mannequins donning uniforms stand near the kind of tracked cargo-carrying vehicle that carried supplies and men toward land — and, for thousands of troops, toward their final fate.
The photos, equipment and stories that fill that room at the American Freedom Museum in Bullard tell the story of one day that changed the world: D-Day, the largest military operation in history, which took place 80 years ago on June 6, 1944.
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