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LUVERNE, M.N. (KELO) — A Jeep that was on the frontlines of D-Day in World War II is finding a new home in Luverne, Minnesota.
The Jeep is being donated to Rock County by former National Geographic photographer and Luverne native Jim Brandenburg. The Jeep will also be showcased in his documentary “Operation Homecoming.”
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Cocherie Christophe, director of “Operation Homecoming” said what the process was like bringing this Jeep overseas.
“Jim Brandenburg asked me to find a jeep to bring back here to Luverne, so I made some phone calls,” Christophe said. “During one month, I called about 40 people and one day one guy told me ‘Hey I know where there is a 1942 Jeep, maybe that’s your Jeep’ so I went to this barn and it was really derelict and at that moment I wanted to make a documentary about how we can bring back to life this Jeep.”
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The Jeep was found in a farmer’s barn near Omaha Beach, Normandy, France, and had been there since 1953. After recently being fully restored in France, the Jeep was transported to New York by boat and then brought to its final destination in Luverne.
Christophe said that a major part of the documentary was bringing the children of World War II fighter pilot Quentin Aanenson, Jerry Aanenson and Renae Aanenson Reu, to Normandy to walk in his footsteps.
“It was a crazy experience but awesome, to see the reactions of the people from here to be in the footsteps of their father 80 years after, it’s really awesome, it was really moving sometimes they cry just to see the landscapes their father saw 80 years ago,” Christophe said. “This Jeep is like a time machine, they get inside and they ride around Normandy to see these places that their father saw.”
Jerry Aanenson recalled the story of him going to Normandy.
“I got a call from Jim Brandenburg he asked me if I would be willing to come to Normandy and that they were going to do a documentary on the Jeep, but they also wanted me to follow in my father’s footsteps and what he did on D-Day,” Aanenson said.
Renae Aanenson Reu talked about what her father did on D-Day.
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“He went there in 1944, he was 101st airborne 502 regiment parachute jumper so on D-Day, June 6th at 12:31 in the morning, he was one of the first paratroopers to land behind enemy lines,” Reu said.
She also talk about what it meant to have the Jeep in their community.
“Coming from where the Jeep was stored this morning and following it in our car and I just pictured my dad being a war hero in that jeep, and now, here it is right in our community,” Reu said.
The city will be hosting a parade for the Jeep at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, September 7, on Luverne’s main street. They will also be hosting the world premiere of “Operation Homecoming” at 3 p.m. at the Historic Palace Theatre in Luverne. The documentary is about the Jeep’s journey to Minnesota and how a family followed in their father’s footsteps on Normandy Beach.
The Jeep will be used as a parade vehicle for the city with the hopes of displaying it at the National Guard Armory.
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