Did you know a piece of D-Day history lives in Tuscaloosa?

By WVUA 23 News Student Reporter MJ Miller

June 6 marks the 79th anniversary of D-Day. D-Day was an allied invasion on the beaches of Normandy, France to halt Nazi forces.

Tuscaloosa’s Veterans Memorial Park on McFarland Boulevard in front of University Mall features pieces of the USS Tuscaloosa, which saw battle at D-Day, specifically a gun and mast.

Not only was the ship there that day in France, but it also fought in north Africa, Okinawa and at Iwo Jima.

The USS Tuscaloosa also escorted President Franklin D. Roosevelt and UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill in 1941 to a charter signing in Newfoundland.

The park itself sits on the former site of the largest military hospital in the country.

And did you know you you or someone you love can become a part of Veterans Memorial Park?

“We also have an opportunity for people to get a veteran’s name inscribed on one of the stones we have throughout the park. It can be for themselves, a relative, or a friend. It gives us a chance to thank the veterans that have given their all for this country,” said Tuscaloosa County Park and Recreation Authority CEO Brian Davis.