As D-Day fades into past, the history remains important [Video]

MARIETTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – It has been 80 years since June 6, 1944, better known as D-Day.

“We landed, we had to crawl on the beach, really,” World War II veteran Onofrio Zicario told CBS News. “I looked over, and there’s this GI. He was sitting on his helmet, and he was holding his guts.”

Zicario’s story is a brutal reminder of the sacrifice hundreds of thousands of men made that day. But that history and sacrifice are getting farther away, and “D-Day” no longer sits prominently in the minds of many Americans.

“If we forget those things, it’s going to be difficult to instill the values that those men and women fought for,” said Brad Hawkins, the Director of the Aviation History and Technology Center in Marietta.

Hawkins is a historian who works to etch physical and mental history in stone.

“Tyranny was running rampant across Europe …