HOPKINSVILLE, KY (CHRISTIAN COUNTY NOW) – On Feb. 6 through the 10th, 24 students from Carentan France will be visiting Hopkinsville and Christian County to tour local museums, engage with community leaders and learn about the history between the two towns.
Carentan France and Hopkinsville are sister cities, explains Visit Hopkinsville manager Amy Rogers. On June 6, 1944, the 101st began its invasion of Normandy in a high-risk code-named Operation Overload.
Soldiers made their way through the city of Carentan in the days following D-Day. At the end of the battle, German forces withdrew and the small town was liberated from Nazi occupation. “Carentan is very grateful that Fort Campbell liberated them, the relationship we have is beautiful,” Rogers said.
The students, along with 3 teachers, are coming as part of a gratitude project, Rogers told Christian County Now. “We are very excited we are going to have them here.”
The students will spend their days on the Fort Campbell Army Base, in Hopkinsville, and at home with their host families. “We created an amazing itinerary for them,” Rogers said. Some of the activities include a meet and greet with Mayor James Knight, Q and A session with other high school students, Visit Hopkinsville tour, lunch at the Carnegie Library, a wreath laying ceremony at a veteran’s cemetery, TSAAS rappel, a bowling social and much more.
The students will be taken in by community members to act as host families. “It’s local men and women who have graciously opened up their homes to these students,” Rogers said. “It has really been a community effort.”
Rogers says she is very happy and excited about the whole trip. “We want to continue this amazing relationship with our sister city.”
This trip will mark the second visit of students from Carentan France as they visited in 2017. In 2019, delegates from Christian County made the journey overseas to visit. For more information call Visit Hopkinsville at 270-887-2300.