Janelle Irwin Taylor
A local combat veteran who runs an organization facilitating rescue operations across the globe is on the ground in Normandy, France, to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day ahead of his next phase of missions to save lives.
Bryan Stern is the founder and former CEO of Project DYNAMO, a nonprofit that has rescued nearly 7,000 people — and their pets — from life-threatening situations.
In Normandy, Stern will participate in parachute jumps over the city’s famous beaches, and he’ll introduce his new operation, Grey Bull Rescue. His new venture represents a new phase in Stern’s work evacuating vulnerable populations from global war zones.
“The tactics that we employ in our missions and evacuations in denied areas today are derived directly from the OSS heroes of World War II whose bravery and methods set the conditions back on June 6, 1944 ahead of Operation: OVERLORD,” Stern said.
“It’s only fitting that as our rescue teams of Grey Bull Rescue get ready to launch into our next phase of operations that we first recognize the bravery of our service members 80 years ago in the very skies and on the beaches where history was made. These brave Americans, part of the famed Jedburg teams, were operating under cover, behind enemy lines in advance of the largest airborne and amphibious operation in history. We are humbled to jump where they jumped, land where they landed, and walk where they walked.”
Stern has served multiple combat tours with the U.S. Army and Navy. Now retired from the military, Stern has deployed and operated rescue missions in more than 70 countries, most recently in Haiti as then-CEO of Project DYNAMO. He’s also run missions in Ukraine, Russia, Afghanistan, Sudan, Israel and Gaza.
Members of his new evacuation team will join him in Normandy. They include veterans of Army Special Operations and the Navy SEALS, and will commemorate the important anniversary of D-Day as a model operation that continues to inspire rescue operations across the globe.
“The world has more strife globally than we have seen in 80 years,” Stern said. “As we commemorate this anniversary, we do so with our sights set on the need for future evacuation operations and rescue missions, which are actively being planned. The world, and American citizens in dire situations, need our support now more than ever. There are more Americans in captivity today than in the last 40 years.”
Stern’s military career spans more than 25 years and provided extensive experience in hostage rescue, counterterrorism, counterproliferation, critical technology protection and unconventional warfare. He is a Purple Heart recipient and has been recognized for his service by the Secretary of Defense, Secretary of the Army, Chief of U.S. Army Infantry, the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Director of the FBI and the U.S. Attorney General.
