Staff report
Posted : Thursday Jun 7, 2007 12:27:30 EDT

The 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit may not have gone into Iraq, but its members did get the chance to storm the beach at Normandy on their way home.

Leathernecks with Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C.-based Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 264, the MEU’s aviation combat element, flew Defense Secretary Robert Gates and a group of guests, including French Defense Minister Hervé Morin, from Paris to Normandy for a ceremony commemorating the 63rd anniversary of the D-Day landings.

The squadron’s CH-53E Super Stallions flew across France from the amphibious assault ship Bataan in the Mediterranean Sea to pick up the dignitaries. Afterward, they returned Gates and his guests to Paris and flew back to the Norfolk, Va.-based expeditionary strike group.

“Supporting this trip by the secretary of defense was important to the Marines, and it was a great opportunity for them to participate in the commemoration of D-Day,” MEU commander Col. Greg Sturdevant said in a press release. “The crews were excited to be a part of the day’s events and did a great job preparing for and carrying out the mission.”

The MEU is expected to return to Camp Lejeune, N.C., late this month or in early July following a routine, six-month deployment.

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2007/06/marine_gates_dday_070607/