In the summer issue of NC State magazine, we tell the stories of alumni who are buried at the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France, and others who have a connection to the French beaches there that changed the landscape of World War II on D-Day in 1944.
And we recently previewed the issue at an NC State Alumni Association outreach event, where we found out we aren’t the only ones tied to NC State with an interest in Normandy.
It turns out Taylor Blanton, who graduated from NC State with a bachelor’s in 2006 and a master’s in education in 2012, has a love for the region and has made a couple of trips to Normandy himself.
Blanton teaches advanced placement U.S. history at Cardinal Gibbons High School in Raleigh, and every February, he takes a group of 25-30 students, mostly seniors, on a trip to Europe. He first made the first trip overseas as an assistant on the trip in 2012. The next year, he took over as lead chaperone on the trip and he decided he wanted to plan for a destination relevant the material he’s used to teaching.
A group of Taylor Blanton’s students visits the Normandy American Cemetery.
“Since I teach U.S. history, I wanted to find a way to make the trip connect a lot to what I teach and to the curriculum,” says Blanton. “It was a Normandy-London-Paris trip. With the opportunity to go to Normandy, it seemed we should do something more than just go. That first year, we had a little ceremony. Every student got a rose they could place on a random grave, or they could leave it at the chapel.”
Blanton has decided to make Normandy a destination every other year. And in the off years, Blanton takes them to another locale, such as the Suresnes American Cemetery, which is mostly dedicated to American soldiers who died in World War I. In 2016, he and his students began what they called the Cardinal Gibbons Remembrance Project to honor those soldiers from North Carolina who died in World War I and World War II, something that caught the attention of some pretty influential eyes.
“I think one of the other things that was cool is that we got a letter from President Obama,” Blanton says. “The president knows you’re here. The governor knows you’re here.”
The Cardinal Gibbons Remembrance Project was formally recognized by President Barack Obama.
Despite those honors, Blanton says it’s seeing history through his students’ eyes that keeps him anticipating the next time he sets foot inside of the Normandy American Cemetery.
“You can see it in their faces. The emotion. You can see their eyes welling up a little as the sacrifice hits them. Once you get that first image, a hush goes over everything,” he says. “I think it’s always good that teachers remind ourselves sometimes that we’re just bigger students. We’re learning all the time. You can teach from the book, but it’s different to get out and explore it.”
