ABOVE, LEFT: Shay gives tribute to all Native Americans who fought on the shores of Normandy on D-Day, during the opening of the park dedicated to them, aptly named the Charles Norman Shay Memorial Park. Tribal representatives from across America flew in for the occasion. MIDDLE: Charles Shay and Marie Pascale Legrand look towards the wooden box on a ceremonial blanket containing eagle feathers and the sage mixture that he uses to, “connect with my brothers lost on D-Day.” RIGHT: Major General Timothy McGuire, U.S. Army Europe, honors and congratu- lates Shay. Legrand was instrumental in the creation of the park, working with local officials and the military to make it happen.
The turtle is a sacred animal representing wisdom and longevity. It
also is the animal Shay chose as a little boy to be his personal Penobscot animal. Sculpted by his nephew Tim, the park’s turtle looks out over the Atlantic, with its head turned west towards Indian Island, Maine, home of the Penobscot Nation, where Shay lives. Charles Shay went on to see action during the Battle of Aachen, the
Battle of Hurtgen Forest and the Battle of the Bulge. After crossing the Rhine on the bridge at Remagen in 1945, he was captured. “My heart breaks for those women who prayed for their brave sons
but never welcomed their sons home again,” says Shay wiping away a tear. “I can never forget the men who never had the chance to experi- ence life as it was meant to be, a wife and a family, but instead were destined to depart this life in some far-off land.” Shay and his three brothers served in World War II; two in the U.S.
Navy and one in the Army Air Corps as a B-17 gunner. All survived. But for nearly two agonizing months, Shay’s mother, Florence, thought Charles had perished, unaware he’d been taken prisoner. Shay said he would never forget her expression when she opened
the door and saw him standing there. Tears of joy streamed down her face. “It was the only time I enjoyed making my mother cry.” But jobs were scarce, and being a decorated Penobscot veteran held little weight. “While a good number of us were decorated with purple
Medic Shay with his brothers-in-arms outside of Aachen, Germany, 1944. “Aachen was one of the bloody battles the 16th
Infantry Regiment participated in.
We were there for many of them.” Left from the back row: the first sergeant, Lieutenant Otsby, and Lieutenant Jan Kowski. Kneeling: Medic Private Shay and the radioman.
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 35
PHOTOS COURTESY CHARLES NORMAN SHAY
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