June 6, 2019

It may be just an ordinary day now, it may have been an ordinary day in every part of the world back then. Except for one. Along the French Normandy coastline, hundreds of thousands of Americans, British, Free French, Canadians, and dozens more nationalities began the liberation of Europe to break the Axis stronghold over the continent that had been there for the better part of five years. Invasion points along the beach were designated into five zones, Gold, Sword, Juno, Utah, and Omaha. Landing on one of the beaches was a young, high school age Bud Moore. Now in the NASCAR Hall of Fame having done about everything there is to do in the world of Stock Car Racing, Moore was participating in the world’s largest amphibious landing. We lost Bud back in late 2017 but he has left an impact that continues to be felt not just across the Upstate of South Carolina but through the NASCAR garages and local short tracks as well. The following is from a 2015 show of Droppin’ the Hammer where Bud Moore recounts some of his stories from the landing to being with Patton’s 3rd Army racing across Europe.

*Photo credits going to the NASCAR Hall of Fame and the Boston Globe.