80 years ago, there was another U.S. triumph in Paris when the 28th Infantry celebrated the end of German occupation

The United States is currently at the top of the medal table for the Paris 2024 Olympics, leading in both Gold medals and total medals, and the games are set to close Sunday, Aug. 11 – just a couple weeks shy of the 80th anniversary of another American triumph in the City of Lights.

Aug. 29, 1944. A date only a couple months removed from the longest day, the commencement of Operation Overlord – D-Day – the invasion of Normandy.

Pennsylvania’s 28th Infantry Division – the oldest continuously serving division in the U.S. Army – had trained in England and landed in Normandy on July 22.

Under Major Gen. Lloyd D. Brown, who succeeded Major Gen. Omar N. Bradley in command of the division, the 28th entered brutal “Hedgerow Hell” conflict, advancing field to field and liberated towns like Percy and Gathemo. On Aug. 14, Major Gen. Norman D. Cota took command of the division and began an advance north to the Seine.

The battle for the liberation of Paris was fought that year from Aug. 19 to 25.

During that time, the 28th was still northeast of the city, taking Vernauil, Breteuil, Damville, Conchos, Le Neubourg, and Elbouf as it chased the German 7th Army.

The 28th was about to drive west and become the first American division to crack the Siegfried Line, or West Wall. It would then go on to a nightmarish engagement in the Hürtgen Forest before repelling a last-ditch German counteroffensive in the Ardennes Forest, where the division had ironically been sent to recuperate before it became the setting of the Battle of the Bulge.

But that was all still in the future. On the 29th of August, 1944, the Keystone Division took part – were living symbols in – a moving display to the French people, a clear message to the country that Allied forces were there to liberate France.

In a 2022 article for the Pennsylvania National Guard, Sgt. 1st Class Aaron Heft covered the moment in detail.

He writes that the division lined up 24 men in a row along the side streets of Paris. They were charged to be “impressed with the honor conferred on the Division and with the importance of putting on the parade in the exceptional 28th Division manner.”

Heft notes that they did not disappoint.

“Parisians mobbed the men, throwing bouquets, cheering ‘Vive les Americains!’ and passing the occasional swig of wine or cognac to the troops as they marched by,” Heft writes.

The division marched down the Champs-Elysee and split around the Arc de Triomphe, before recombining in review for a constellation of assembled generals – Generals Omar Bradley, Courtney Hodges, and the division’s own Norman Cota, plus French generals Charles de Gaulle and Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque.

For his article, Heft dug up a copy of The Invader, the division’s newspaper, from Aug. 30, 1944. Beneath a screaming headline “WE MARCH IN PARIS,” the division’s correspondent wrote:

History was made in Paris this bleak rainy Tuesday – August 29th, 1944 – for with the entry of our Division the French capital, symbol of French liberty and the center of European civilization became free once more.

To learn more about the parade, read Heft’s full article here, and find the full 28th Division campaign history here.

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