Several Chapel Hill High School students set out on a mission this year to raise money in order to take two World War II veterans to Normandy to mark the 75th anniversary of D-Day.

“I think it’s really important that their stories are told, even when they pass on,” Chapel Hill High sophomore Elena Lowing said in an interview with WCHL during the fundraising effort for the trip earlier this year. “It’s just so important to us that everyone really knows the sacrifices and everything they went through so that people they didn’t even know would be free.”

The students held a silent auction among their efforts to raise the money, and they were successful.

They made the trip with 95-year-old Jacques Michienzi and 96-year-old George Chall this week.

NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt caught up with the students and veterans during his coverage of the anniversary from Normandy.

You can see more of the NBC Nightly News story here.

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