ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Family and friends of two local World War II veterans, Siegfried “Ziggy” Weinthal, an Army veteran, and Joseph Grossman, a Navy veteran, are celebrating their return to Rochester after taking a trip of a lifetime to Normandy, France.

“They are part of the Greatest Generation. Ninety-five-year-old Army veteran Siegfried Ziggy Weinthal and 97-year-old Joseph Grossman are among those who sacrificed it all to save the world,” said Bret Vetter, News10NBC.

Weinthal is a German refugee who fled the country with his family to the U.S. when he was 11 years old. At age 17, he enlisted in the Army and served in Austria.

“It’s a trip I’ll never forget, especially the 80th anniversary,” said Weinthal.

Grossman served in the Navy, patrolling the Atlantic in late 1944-1945 on the destroyer ship USS Abercrombie.

“It was great, the immensity of the program is beyond expectations,” said Grossman.

Family and friends were at the Frederick Douglass Greater Rochester International Airport when their plane landed just after 10 p.m. on Sunday.

On the first leg of their trip, Weinthal and Grossman rode on the Queen Mary across the Atlantic before making their way to France.