D-Day: Boy Launches Petition to Preserve Normandy Beach

BETHESDA, MD — The beaches of Normandy, France, today are filled with tourists slathered in sunscreen frolicking in the waves.

One Bethesda middle school student believes that’s wrong, that life shouldn’t go on there as if World War II’s slaughter never took place.

For more than 156,000 American, British and Canadian servicemen those beaches were filled with blood, terror, bombardment, and death 72 years ago today, the anniversary of D-Day.

D-Day, the term for the Allied invasion of Europe on June 6, 1944, sent tens of thousands of military personnel into hellish gunfire from German troops. Historians estimate 4,000 Allied troops died in the massive invasion, which ultimately ended the war in Europe.

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Brandon Leach, 13, and a seventh-grader at Westland Middle School, has launched an online petition asking President Barack Obama and French President Francois Hollande to designate an area on Normandy’s beaches for solemn reflection.

The topic is a personal one for Leach’s family; his grandfather survived the Nazi Holocaust.

His “Papa,” Dr. Harry Weinrauch, escaped Hitler’s forces with his immediate family from Vienna, Austria in 1941, coming to the United States.

“My mom told me about her trip to the Normandy beaches when she was a child with her family and how all the invasion beaches were public,” Brandon tells Patch. “That always bothered me and it sparked me to look into it further. I called the French embassy and they confirmed that all the beaches are still public. I felt like I had to try and change that.”

»Read and sign Brandon Leach’s Normandy Beach petition here.

Lobbying for the cause – not to install a physical monument necessarily, but just to dedicate a section of the 50-mile beaches to quiet reflection – began two years ago.

Brandon’s vision for the site is outlined on his petition: “I created a petition to dedicate at least a fragment of the Normandy beaches to be a historic site, a site of remembrance where swimming and sand castle building are strictly prohibited. It would demand the same level of respect as all cemeteries, a respect that the Allied soldiers surely deserve.”

The teen would like nothing more than for Monday’s D-Day anniversary to be marked by solemn reflection on the lives lost to preserve freedom “instead of allowing swimming or playing in the sand there, which I think is disrespectful.”

His passion for the project took root before he studied about WWII in school, he says, sparked by lessons from his grandfather.

“He always taught me about WWII and the importance of standing up against evil,” Brandon says. “This sparked my general interest in military history. When I was 4 years old, I started a lemonade stand to raise money to buy gifts for troops Afghanistan and Iraq. I have my lemonade sales every year. I always love to thank service men and women when I see them. We need to always remember their courage and sacrifice.”

The teen says he plans to join Junior ROTC when he gets to high school.

Gathering Petition Signatures

To date, Brandon has about 200 signatures on paper, and 73 signatures on the online version of the petition. His school has posted the petition link on the school website, and announcements will be made during the week to help collect signatures, he says.

While Brandon hopes to get a few thousand signatures – or many more if the link goes viral – he plans to present his petition this year to the French Embassy, State Department and President Obama.

On Monday – the D-Day anniversary – Brandon will visit the National World War II memorial in Washington, D.C., for the wreath-laying ceremony and collect more signatures from veterans.

His efforts will honor the heroes who fought and died on Normandy Beach, the men who freed Europe from a tyrant, and the heroic journey of his grandfather.

“He lost so many relatives in the Holocaust. He is one of my best friends and one of my heroes. He came to this country with nothing and worked very hard - he always had a few jobs even though he was going to school,” Brandon says of Papa. “He became an amazing doctor and devoted his life to helping people.”

»Photo of Bethesda student Brandon Leach and his grandfather, Dr. Harry Weinrauch, courtesy of Brandon Leach