The 4th Infantry Division honored a 19-year-old private who landed on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day during a ceremony in France earlier this week. 

Service members and local community members recognized the life of Pvt. 1st Class Paul E. Duquette and unveiled a memorial stone erected in his honor in Normandy. Duquette was the only child of a family from Sanford, Maine, who enlisted in 1942 whene was 17.

“Duquette’s story reminds us that the freedoms we enjoy today were secured by ordinary young men who answered an extraordinary call,” said Maj. Andrew Blasczyk, who led the 4th Infantry Division’s planning efforts for the event. “May we always remember his dedication, honor his memory, and ensure that his legacy lives on for future generations.” 

While Fort Carson was built during World War II, the 4th Infantry Division was not based in Colorado Springs at that time. The division called Colorado Springs home from 1970 to 1995 and then returned in 2009.

On June 6, 82 years ago, about 21,000 4th Infantry Division soldiers landed in Normandy of the nearly 160,000 troops sent ashore. The Allies suffered more than 10,300 casualties that day, according the World War II Museum. 

Duquette was part of the first wave of soldiers to land on Utah Beach,

Over the next ten days, Duquette and his unit, the 8th Infantry Regiment, fought Nazi soldiers as they made their way 12 miles northwest to Montebourg.

After they secured the town, soldiers set up a defensive line in Éroudeville, a village outside of Montebourg. They held the area under the constant threat of German artillery, said historian Jeremy Andersen-Bo in the release. 

Duquette was killed while manning a forward outpost on June 16, 1944, and buried that same day in the temporary military cemetery of Sainte-Mère-Église. After the war, his remains were transferred to the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, the news release said.