Standing next to his wife, Ethel Parham, left, and the U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb, D-Mt. Lebanon, right, World War II veteran Henry Parham, 97, of Wilkinsburg, salutes during the performance of taps at a D-Day 75th Anniversary ceremony Thursday, June 6, 2019, on the front patio at the Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum in Oakland. On D-Day, Mr. Parham waded ashore in waist deep water at Omaha Beach. He was in the third wave and spared the worst of the horror the first wave of infantry endured. Still, he spent more than two months on that beach with the 320th Anti-aircraft Barrage Balloon Battalion, the only black combat unit to serve at Normandy. The Job of the 320th was to use helium-filled barrage balloons to defend the beach from attack by German planes. The balloons were tethered to the ground with steel cables and attached to winches that could raise and lower them as needed. The cables were designed to ensnare the wings of enemy bombers, forcing them to fly higher so they couldnÕt bomb as effectively. (Nate Guidry/Post-Gazette)