Voices of Valor D-Day June 6, 1944 PDF

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D-DAY: JUNE
6,
1944
DOUGLAS BRINKLEY
AM RONALD J. DREZ
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""Voices of Valor
D-Day: June
1944
6.
Douglas Brinkley and Ronald

Voices of Valor: D-Day: June
and
6,
J.
1944
lasting tribute to the soldiers
one of the most important

century.
It
is
an intimate
who
fought in
battles of the twentieth
includes two hourlong audio
120 minutes
veterans'
Drez
own
experienced
all that allow us
in
to
voices as they recount what

they
Normandy. These accounts are
at
drawn from the
Peter S. Kalikow World
Oral
Project
History
Eisenhower Center
University of
CDs
hear the
New
for
conducted
War
by
American Studies
Orleans, and
now
II
the
at
the
curated by
the National D-Day Museum.

The text of Voices
of Valorwritten by acclaimed
historian and
popular on-air consultant Douglas
Brinkley and
decorated Vietnam veteran and

D-Day expert
Ronald J. Drez is based on those
oral testi-
monies and weaves

that
a captivating narrative of
dramatic day.
D-Day-June
pivotal
6,
1944-has been
moment
the fate of World
rightly called a
in the twentieth century.
War
II
150,000 Allied soldiers took part

air,
land,
With
hanging in the balance,

in the largest
and sea operation ever attempted. Five
thousand Allied servicemen died
that day, but

D-Day's success proved to be the
decisive turning
point of the war. Less than a year

his regime
fell.
later,
Hitler
and
This unique multimedia history
of the invasion brings the

veterans' stories to
as never before.
2 audio
life
CDs
U6
Allen
Count
GRB
E: If any part of these contents

or damaged, the Patron will be
charged for the total cost of all items.
Video
Disk
t
DISK 1 AUDIO CONTENTS

Note: Audio recordings correspond to chapters in the book.
i.
CHAPTER
General Introduction
10.
CHAPTER 1
11.
in
France
3.
Enlistment
CHAPTER 4
4.
12.
5.
Americans Cross to England

Training in England
6.
Airborne Training (note: interviewer
14.
Overview The
The Crossing
The Landing
15.
Assault on the Caen (Pegasus) Bridge
16.
Attempts to Radio a Missing Glider
Ambrose interjects on
and some other CD tracks)
CHAPTER
7.
June 4-June
5 in
17.
Overview The
18. Preparations
England
Other
21.
22.
British Glider Invasion
On
Normandy
the Ground
19.
Overview The
25. Infantrymen
U.S. Airborne Invasion
Takeoff
Across the Channel
Air
and Sea Armadas
Bombardment
Naval Bombardment
23. Aerial
24.
CHAPTER 5
Overview Final Preparations
8. Final Training
9.
13.
this
Text
CHAPTER 6
Overview Enlistment and Training
E.
CD
20. Dropping into
Overview Undercover Work

SOE and Resistance Efforts
2.
Stephen
Cassette
Making the Crossing
DISK 2 AUDIO CON .^TS

i
Note: Audio recordings correspond to chapters
CHAPTER
the
uow
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 9
Overview Utah Beach
12.
Overview 16th
13.
Approaching the Beach
3.
Approaching the Beach

Infantry Landing
4.
Destroying the Guns
15.
1.
2.
14. In the
16.
CHAPTER 8
17.
Overview Rangers
The Plan
7. The Landing
8. Up the Beach
5.
Scaling the
11.
Water
the Beachheads
Scenes of Death
CHAPTER 12
18.
27.
Overview 116th
19. Troubles at
Infantry at
Sea
20. Landing
Guns
Mission Accomplished
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Overview Gold, Juno,

and Sword Beaches
24. Approaching the Beaches
25. On the Beach
26. Unloading and Moving Inland
23.
Attacking the Bluffs
CHAPTER 10
Cliffs
10. Destroying the
Omaha Beach
at the Pointe
6.
9.
On
Infantry at
21.
Crossing the Beach
22.
Moving Inland
Omaha Beach
D-Day Aftermath
28. Liberation of France

29. Final Reflections
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VOICES OF VALOR
D-DAY: JUNE
6,
1944
DOUGLAS BRINKLEYAND
RONALD J. DREZ
Bulfinch Press
New
York
Boston
Notice: Warning ol Copyright Restrictions
:-
coitions
specified in la* non-profit kbranes
: 'en! copies of c:-.

patrons on a nonprofit basis and tor I
:oo or
copy or piAlKry peStaled
Copyright
2004 by Douglas Brinkley and Ronald
).
Code
Drez
Audio (enclosed CDs) 2004 by the Eisenhower Center for American Studies at the University of New
Orleans. These recordings are included courtesy of the Peter 5. Kalikow World War
Oral History Project
the Eisenhower Center for American Studies at the University of New Orleans.
II
Narration copyright
2004 by Stephen Lang
reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or
mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in
writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.
All rights
Bulfinch Press
Time Warner Book Group

1271 Avenue of the Americas
New
York,
Visit
our
NY 10020
Web
site at
www.bulfinchpress.com
Voices of Valor: D-Day: June
6,
1944
is
produced by becker&mayer!, Bellevue, Washington.
www.beckermayer.com
First
Edition
ISBN 0-8212-2889-7
Library of Congress Control
Design by Todd Bates
Printed
in
China
Number: 2003115133
at
To Peter
whose
S.
Kalikow,
generosit\
preserved
and patriotism have allowed
for posterity.
the voices of the
men
of
D-Dav
to
be
CONTENTS
Introduction
CHAPTER
1:
The
CHAPTER
2:
Launching the Attack
CHAPTER
3:
The
CHAPTER
4:
Dropping from the Skies: The British Attack on the East Flank 58
CHAPTER
5:
Over the Adantic Wall: The American Airborne Drop on die Cotendn Peninsula
CHAPTER
6: Crossing the
CHAPTER
7:
Utah Beach
CHAPTER
8:
The Rangers
CHAPTER
9:
The 16th Regiment
CHAPTER
10:
The 116th Regiment:
CHAPTER
11:
The
CHAPTER
12:
The Aftermath
Epilogue
Call to
British
176
182
Photo Credits
184
179
for
D-Day
16
30
Battlefield Isolated:
Acknowledgments
Glossary
Arms and Gathering
Help from the Resistance and the SOE
Channel: The Air and Sea Armadas
90
102
at
the Pointe
at
Omaha Beach
128
Into the Jaws of Hell
2nd Army
168
116
at
Gold, Juno, and
142
Sword Beaches
154
46
74
INTRODUCTION
When
director Steven Spielberg
was
a teenager, he
encounter with his hero, the legendary John Ford.
had
chance
'"Out of all
your
movies, which are you most proud of?" the aspiring filmmaker asked
the aging icon
it
hasn't
to
which Ford replied without
been made
yet."
li
a beat:
D-Day, son. But
Ford had been in charge of a U.S. Signal Corps
camera unit on Omaha Beach on June
6,
1944, his mission to film the
Operation Overlord invasion that landed 176,000 Allied soldiers on

the beaches of
Normandy
for a
massive assault against the Germans
occupying France. Somehow, however, Ford's footage was

1998,
when Melvin
R. Paisley, a
World War
II
aviator
lost until
and Reagan-era
Assistant Secretary of the Navy, found a few canisters of the missing

film deep within the National Archives. Spielberg
also served in the U.S.
Army
Best Director Oscar for his

intrigued
when he
Air Corps, and
whose father had
who was
D-Day movie Saving
about
Private
to
win the
Ryan
was
read about Paisley's find in an article historian
Douglas Brinkley wrote in The
OPPOSITE: American troops
at
New
Yorker.
an English port wait to embark on their crossing to Normandy.
-,*
M.
own
But Spielberg had already made his
Stephen
Ambrose books
E.
Xormandy
from
World War
from the
II
to Hitler's
Band
(1994). Pegasus Bridge: June

to the
reignited public
1944. "Sa\ing Private
Ryan
Bulge
someone about
always have a special place
tury
D-Day
of course
it
bit of
faddish
makes sense
and now they are welcome.

the
unearth
to
am
of their
summed
it
up
that those individuals
at a car
I.
too.
wash
am
sur-
want
to
"When our
30. 1999.
national
would not
welcome
speak
bit of
of
tor
World War
is
feel
40 years, and lending
it
to
me
this vear."
There were certainly other pivotal
II.
were won or important decisions made. But
when he deemed
operation ever to take place." That
saying a
something crucial didn't transpire somewhere

East.
because
life
to
great battles
best
my
6.
ignoring the greatest event of the twentieth cen-
magnitude of accomplishments nothing compared

Churchill
to
very proud of that and very proud of you for taking a
D-Day was the turning point

moments: moments when
Army
May 7.
U.S.
1944
7.
hidden memories and now thev can
Ambrose on March
trivia,
from the torch that you've been earning
fire
in
movie theater or even
at a
many
Spielberg wrote to
it."
psyche focuses on every
Germany June
of
.\irborne
1944: The Climactic Battle of
what had transpired across the Atlantic on June
recognizing me
tell
Surrender
to the
interest in
will
about what our film did
6:
1944 (1988). and Citizen Soldiers: The
6.
rounded by veterans who

talk
E Company. 506th Regiment. Wist
of Brothers:
Eagle Xest (1991). D-Day: June
Xormandy Beaches
1945 (1997)
epic movie, which, along with four recent
it
lot.
in sheer
D-Day. British prime minister Winston
to
"the most
For
it
was
in the Pacific.
dittii ult
a rare
and most complicated
day during the war when
Burma-India-China, the Middle
North Africa, the Soviet Union, the North Atlantic, or Europe.
example, the Americans marched triumphantly into Rome, the
first
On
June
4.
major capital
to
1944. lor
be
liber-
ated by the Allies. But Italy had started the war as one of the Axis powers, on the side of
Fascism in general and Adolf Hitler
two days
after the liberation of
in particular.
Rome, there was
quered by the Nazis was taken back

beach, but
"In the
it
was
column
land, hard-fought
want
Stripes' Ernie Pyle
ever be
humbly
to tell
for
for.
sheer
number
freedom.
and
it
was only
It
northern France
dead and alive
who
the overarching
and 29th Infantry Divisions, and
narrow
of the
strip of sea-sprayed
end
for
Adolf
Hitler.
of the second front entailed." Stars
of troops. But its the daring boldness
1st. 4th.
was the beginning
wrote shortly after D-Day "so that you can
grateful to those both
in
a turning point of a different sort: land con-
you what the opening
Everything about D-Day was large
America's
With the D-Day invasion
its
did
know and
it
and
appreciate and for-
for you."
strategy, the vast mobilization, the
and intrepid courage of the men
82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions.
along with the British 3rd and 50th Infantry Divisions, the Canadian 3rd Infantry Division,
and the
British 6th Airborne Division
Corps, that stand out.
One can
John Ford, but the only
way
to
plus
the incredible job of the U.S.
Navy and Air
read biographies of Dwight Eisenhower or watch footage of
understand D-Day fully
DOUGLAS BRINKLEY AND RONALD
J.
DREZ
is
as a battle at
its
smallest: that
is,
one soldier and one reminiscence
the
of Valor
title
at a time. Collectively
Omaha Beach
example, watched the naval bombardment of

landing. "With
thought
power,
all this fire
it
should be
was untouchable." Leonard
Griffing
a cinch,"
was
men were
these fighting
of this book. Infantryman Al Littke of the 16th
under the
push myself out because
D-Day was not one
who
viduals
tial
is
it
left
was
day, but a
hung
just
composite of
stood there with
seemed
"it
in a sharp roll
we
that
and
took
couldn't
on."
many
days, experienced
by each of those
indi-
from the 120,000 men who landed during the iniwho supported them. In this volume, the story of D-Dav
those who were there. None of the people who lend their
played a part on the Allied side
action to the millions of personnel
told through the impressions of
saw the grand sweep
voices here
Assembled
all
wing because the plane went
uphill, so
to himself. "I
a paratrooper with the 101st Airborne
my hands on the edge of the doorway ready to push out," he recalled,

of a burst
for
as he waited in a boat to join the
he recalled saying
Division, preparing to drop onto French soil from a low-flying airplane. "As
some kind
the Voices
Regiment Combat Team,
of the battle, but rather only
in this book. Voices of Valor, are those
memories
them imbued with human drama. They comprise
of
some
one small snapshot of

tragic,
it.
some humorous, and
the big picture of the largest invasion
force ever assembled.
book was born
Essentially, this
Center
at the
have been
New
University of
viewing D-Day veterans
for
in
1983
the then director of the Eisenhower
Orleans, historian Stephen E. Ambrose, started inter-
an oral history project. Realizing
have had the technology
to
when
to
how
extraordinary
tape-record the soldiers of Gettysburg or
Vicksburg during the U.S. Civil War, Ambrose and his associate, Captain Ron Drez,
company commander
a rifle
in
Vietnam
would
it
embarked on
in 1968,
USMC,
a mission. For over a
decade they canvassed America, attending veterans reunions and tracking down forgotten
men. The Eisenhower Center

tually
grew
to
collection,
more than 2,000 accounts
due
to the
hard work of Ambrose and Drez, even-
of personal
D-Day experiences. "This
is
the most
extensive first-person, I-was-there collection of memoirs of a single battle in existence,"
Ambrose wrote
in the
"Acknowledgments"
The Climactic Battle of World War
me
to
II.
to his best-selling
book D-Day: June
'Although space limitations made
quote directly from each oral history or written memoir,
tributed to
my
all
now
curates,
when
veterans.
"We
Museum
formed the basis of Ambrose's four seminal World War

that those veterans
were reluctant
Lomell, of the 2nd Ranger Battalion, spoke for what
D-Day
impossible for
understanding of what happened."
Ambrose learned was
Generation,"
1944:
the accounts con-
This extraordinary collection of oral histories, which the National D-Day

Orleans
it
6,
storytellers
didn't write articles, books,
in
books.
New
What
but great ones. Leonard G.
Tom Brokaw
in typically self-deprecating fashion,
II
has dubbed "The Greatest
he explained the rationale of most
make speeches
or publicize the performance of
VOICES OF VALOR
know what each
our duties." he admitted. "We
We
weren't heroes,
The
we were
just
New
did our duty like professionals.
good Rangers as we believed the record would forever show."
show
record, as offered in this volume, does indeed
well" they were magnificent. With the

of
we
other did and
York City's leading real estate firms, the Eisenhower Center
the voices
and
stories of the
do
that they didn't just
their job
financial help of Peter S. Kalikow. president of
men and women who
continuing
is
War
participated in World
II.
to
one
preserve
Besides oral
history recordings, the Center has collected written memoirs, letters, photographs, and other
documents from veterans and

Encyclopedia Britannica
content to military.com for

collection, a
their families.
in the creation of
its
World War
II
sampling of which constitutes
The Center has
Normandy
its
also
worked
website, and
history page, based
is
now contributing
on the Center's
oral history
this book.
The expression "D-Day" was not coined
for the Allied invasion.
The same name was
given to the undesignated attack date of nearly every planned offensive during the war.
first
coined during World War
was
short for day. Albeit redundant, the expression stood for "Day-day."
War
II.
though,
planning
for
it
I.
D-Day
to fall.
Adding
late 1942. U.S. officials
The
1944. That date
thoughts about
first
it.
was
of
World
unknown when
however, had started long
when American diplomats worried
that with
most of the European continent, the Soviet Union could
Even
front.
as the fen* ious Battle of Stalingrad raged in
was
to
siphon German military strength away from the
Reluctantly, the British agreed to a plan called Operation
1943. but they soon
By the end
utterly
pressured the British to prepare for an invasion of Occupied France.
ulterior motive, of course,
- -vR.
was
anxiety was the fact that the Nazis had been notching one
to the
on the eastern
victory after another
6.
started in 1942
the Axis powers already occupying
be the next
The
started in 1943.
it
It
before the massive American attack on Saint Mihiel: the "D"
stood for only one date: June
before that. In Washington,
with
in conjunction
managed
to shift the Allied
imperative
to
Roundup, scheduled
for
North African operations and
the eventual invasion of Italy from the Mediterranean.
The
affected
known
Allied victory in North Africa delayed the

it
in
another
way
as the "Desert Fox."
as well. Field
had
lost
D-Day invasion
North Africa, but
in
as a hero. Temporarily out of work, thanks to the Allies,

fications along the Atlantic coast
Germany: the defense

the Allies
known
France by a year, and

strategist
Germany was nonetheless regarded
Rommel was
from the French border with Spain
installation
in
Marshal Erwin Rommel, the respected
as the Atlantic Wall.
ordered to inspect
to the
forti-
Dutch border with
The Nazis were
well aware that
were considering an invasion across the English Channel, so Rommel was soon
given direct responsibility for defending northern France, Belgium, and Holland against an
Allied landing.
than
It
was
a job better suited to a spider,
to a fox, at his best
on the move. Rommel
who would
diligently
spin a
along the coast, though, and tried to anticipate the Allies' next move.
J.
DREZ
web and
made improvements
wait for prey,
to fortifications
Until the spring of 1943, the Allies were not at
all
sure themselves just
might re-emerge, though an effective planning team under

General Sir Frederick
E.
when Roundup
savvy Briton, Lieutenant
Morgan, started analyzing possibilities in March. In the meantime,
the United States continued to press
its
impatience upon the British. But not through
diplomacy Through massive deployment. By June 1943, German U-boats had withdrawn
from the offensive in the North Atlantic, and
after that, the sea lane
was
largely safe for the
flow of materiel from the U.S. 'Arsenal of Democracy" to supply depots throughout Great
Britain.
up
in
From
rows
certain angles, Britain
literally
by the mile, and
sort of abstract painting.
commanders
to carry
Finally, in late
it
seemed
to
be one large staging area, with tanks lined
fighter planes disappearing into the distance like
D-Day was obviously coming, but
it
some
awaited a firm plan and the
out.
November
1943, a course
was
set. In
the swirl of the diplomatic meet-
ings that preceded the conference for Allied leaders at Tehran, the British finally concurred
Assault troops line up for supplies and provisions before their departure from England to Normandy.
VOICES OF VAI Ok
with the Soviets and the Americans that the time had come
offensive in Europe had
Marshal Joseph
Stalin,
it
plan an invasion.
and Prime Minister Winston Churchill formally agreed
offensive on the western front. "The history of
parable to
to
become an imperative. At Tehran. President Franklin

war does not know
A D-Dav
Roosevelt,
to
go on the
com-
of an undertaking
breadth of conception, grandeur of scale, and mastery of execution."' Stalin
for
somewhere
claimed. At the time, the western front lay
Channel. The strategy had
to
middle of the English
in the
encompass two major challenges:
to cross
some hundred
miles of open water with a vast army and simultaneously to fight a battle on a scale never
attempted before.
Just hearing Churchill agree to attempt the invasion wasn't
British
had been evasive
demanding
sion by
Churchill,
whose
to
enough
know two
natural reflex
things:
when and who. The
was delay on the matter
somewhat understandable. Defeat would have
left
another Battle of Britain. However, he responded

invasion would take place in spring of
would command the operation was

troops in the invasion force,
l
l
in truth,
he needed Marshall too
much
to
in
was
II.
States,
privilege of
name George
man widely
was
to counteratt.uk:
set,
who
the question of
which would have the most
C. Marshall, his chief of
Washington. Winston Churchill's
man
own
staff,
but
choice was
Roosevelt selected.
when America
recognized for his meticulous tactical
a quality not often ascribed to
uations, as well as people, individually.
entered
Famous
and subordinates
ranking military
for his
ability.
officers.
Eisenhower
alike,
he was
He judged
sit-
contagious smile, he could dominate
as easily with his cogent grasp of detail as with his withering blue-eyed glare. At this
time, General
Eisenhower had developed three maxims
to take a hill if
art of
to
naming the Supreme Commander.
also innately diplomatic. In his dealings with superiors
room
up
Despite his relatively low rank, he was already marked for an important role in
energetic
remarkably adaptable
left
Tehran by confirming that the
Eisenhower, born in Texas and raised in Kansas, was a colonel
An
The
of the invasion. His reticence
to Stalin at
General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Ultimately, he was the
the war.
when was
homeland vulnerable
The United
was accorded the
Franklin Roosevelt
his
question of
With the time frame
)44.
next.
was inclined
Initially.
World War
for the Soviets.
before, but at Tehran an impatient Stalin decided to lock in the deci-
you have
leadership
is
a division available"; b)
to live by: a)
deciding what to do, and then getting
worked closely with
mand. Though most of them were surprised
officers
men
to
want
name
teen thousand people, hand-picking as
to
do
c)
"The
it."
and the Allied operations
in
North
throughout the Allied chain of com-
that General Marshall
had not been chosen
execute the invasion, none doubted Eisenhower's ability to handle the
To plan the operation, given the
a battalion
"Long faces never win wars": and
In charge of the buildup in Britain starting in 1942
Africa in 1943, Eisenhower
"Never send
to
job.
Overlord, Eisenhower depended on a staff of four-
many
of
J.
them
DREZ
as possible. General
Morgan and most
were retained. The new
of his original staff
Allied troops were
day atmosphere
still
settled over the British homefront, a sense that

it
Eisenhower's inner circle
knew
would be big and
were encamped
end of May,
to
that
it
grew more somber

quite
sometimes
number would
that
rise to
thousand ships and landing
Included in the
paper
cial part of the
The Pas de
The
Pas-de-Calais
was
fortresses.
Resistance fighters
French
the
well over three million. With them were more than
and they arrived
all
of the accoutrements
were empty ammunition boxes,
just as ordered.
Deception was a cru-
cardboard general for the sake of D-Day, setting up a
most heavily
That was no secret
who
at a
crossing
part of the deception.
for the Strait of Dover,
was
between England and France,
civilians
By
peak performance.
The camp was only
in people's living rooms.
D-Day. Even General George C. Patton, one of the U.S. Army's
became
also the
other:
No one outside
everyone knew that
England apparently crammed with troops and pointed
Calais,
no
a time like
holi-
an incredible 2,876,000 troops
late April,
sometimes
a logical choice for a channel cross-
at
decades by intrepid swimmers. Across the
for
ways
for
shortest distance
span favored
German
By
of items requisitioned for Overlord
officers,
in southeastern
into Pas-de-Calais.
at
fighter planes,
planning
most aggressive
camp
list
and cloth
tents,
by.
take, but
three thousand aircraft, and
craft,
men running
near.
in tents,
was
it
weeks went
as the
what shape D-Day would
was drawing
in England,
keep machines and
ing.
even-
left off,
pouring into Britain. The majority of them were Americans.
rambunctious early on,
five
up where Morgan's had
expanding the scope of the planned invasion. Meanwhile, during the winter of 1943,
tually
it
effort started
to the Allies
because
Germans out
of transmitting tneir information to Paris,
where
Strait,
it
was
it
was
it
the
the French departemente of
along the Atlantic Wall,
fortified spot
spied on the
about twenty-five miles,
was no
home
to three
secret to the French
of half-opened eyes
and then found
by radio to the Allies.
sent
Eisenhower's planners were directing their real ships, their airplanes, and their deadly
ammo
at
another landing entirely. They chose the sandy beaches of Normandy, between two
deep-port
cities:
dred miles
Cherbourg, on the
to the east.
crescent between
Channel, as
was
much
relatively safe
from
and
first-rate
guns.
gun
attack.
That
is
is
was
German
why
not to say, however, that
the Channel
fortress,
but the long
looked out on one of the widest points in the
it
the Nazis
was
presumed
it
to
be
free for the taking.
crisscrossed with barricades and
gun
installa-
paved with land mines. In addition, the Germans had positioned several
batteries along the
The water
It
one hundred miles across, which
as
practically
blunted peninsula, and Le Havre, about one hun-
less heavily fortified.
The land looking out on

tions,
tip of a
Each of those ports was defended by
itself
was
Normandy
beaches, the largest of them equipped with 8-inch
also fortified, with both
submerged mines and even more daunting
ones on the ends of poles
set at a slant to intercept
buttressed by tanks, and
all
incoming
of that only constituted the
boats.
first line
The
fortifications
of defense.
VOICES OF VALOR
were
The second
however, was something of a roving proposition. To make the best use of a limited num-
line,
ber of armored vehicles, the
Germans had
finally settled
on
a plan to leave the
mass of tanks
well behind the lines, ready to rush to the defense of any sector under attack. Air power was
also stretched thin, but
German
forces
650 planes were stationed
were outmatched
and quash an Allied landing.
was one
It
of the
many
demonstrably closer with every

in
paving the way
backup on the railroad
The
target of the
in the
and gave names
still
easily effect a victory
D-Day, General Eisenhower sought
to
who
choke the defenses
made
before D-Day.
at
was
It
believed that total victory grew
Eisenhower's strategy worked,
soil.
the invasion started, there
was
four-day
lines leading into the region.
D-Day invaders was
feet high.
to the
When
lor the invasion.
land beyond. In other places,
one hundred
Air Corps
on German
air strike
Cherbourg-Le Havre crescent. In places,
to
to
controversial decisions that he
an unpopular one. especially with those
though,
numbers, but they could
in
months leading up
intermediate targets, especially supply lines,
strike
to
Xormandy.
northern France.
advantage by pulling bombers from missions over Germany and redirecting
to increase his
them
In the
in
narrow
The
a
it
sixty-mile stretch of shoreline in the middle of the

offered
strip of
smooth beaches, with
sand was buttressed by
Allies separated their assault into five
fairly
cliffs
empty farm-
ranging from ten
amphibious divisions
beaches where each one would land. Those names have become
hal-
lowed: Utah, Omaha. Gold. Juno, and Sword.
While the Germans rearranged panzers and personnel

Pattoris
army)
Normandy.
at
to
meet the expected attack (by
move on
Pas-de-Calais, millions of Allies wen; quietly preparing for the
was the biggest secret of the war, and, amazingly, the Germans never heard
It
anything about
it.
As Eisenhower wrote
to the
Combined Chiefs
upcoming
of Staff on the
Operation Overlord on January 23, 1944: "Every obstacle must be overcome, every inconvenience suffered, and every risk run
to
ensure that our blow
is
decisive.
We
cannot afford
to fail."
The
The
Allies
skies
had
days of June,
knew
to
precisely
where they were going. But they had
be clear and the seas calm. Neither proved
when
hold the order to
all else
was
readv.
start the invasion. Finally, the
be the case (luring the
conditions began
Though
to
few
with-
was
there
this great
CO
CO
00
and noble undertaking."
midnight, June
J.
^
in
&
r^
o
And let us all beseech

On the night of June 5,
operation finally began, as Allied paratroopers boarded planes and gliders. "OK,
after
CO
in
detail
were accurate.
God upon
Eisenhower's direct order. Just
first
trust in the forecasts of his weathermen.
With every other
June 4 Eisenhower gave the Order of the Day: "Good Luck!
blessing of Almighty
to clear.
when.
mas-
to take the risk.
terminded, he had to revert to sheer hope and
On
control over
Eisenhower was forced by weather conditions
no guarantee on the weather, Eisenhower had
Fortunately, their predictions
to
little
6,
DREZ
they began landing behind
let's
go"
enemy
the
the
was
lines,
CO
with orders
to attack
and destroy German gun
The success
batteries.
of the paratroopers
was
instrumental in deciding the fate of the landing force in various sectors. Meanwhile, an
armada
of ships started
making
its
way toward
whom
loaded with 125.000 soldiers, on
launched a brutal barrage on the targeted

ferocity.
The
sky. just
of 2,219 warplanes.
battleships,
growing
areas.
The naval
came from
assault
was soon joined by an ah
It
attack of equal
morning, was darkened by an awesome canopy
light in the early
two monitors, twenty-two
at a stretch of
the designated beaches. Transport vessels were
the Allied cause depended. At dawn, the navy
a fleet just as impressive, consisting of six
and
cruisers,
beach only two dozen miles long.
Up
sixty-three destrovers
away
blasting
all
Overlord was
to that point, everything in
going according to plan.
Even the
theatrics
worked
much better than expected. Using decovs and
airplanes towing kite tails of tin
the Allies convinced Nazi
On
draw German
a smattering of
carefully designed to attract the attention of
commanders
Even reports of the paratrooper

Germans.
foil,
activity
that a massive invasion
had begun
behind the Normandy beach lines
German
radar,
at Pas-de-Calais.
failed to
dissuade the
the contrary they concluded that the paratroopers were the decoys, deployed to
away from
forces
Pas-de-Calais
and
Allied troops began landing at 6:30 a.m.
they met vastly different
fates.
to the
beaches of Normandv.
Wading through the water onto French
soil,
At Utah Beach, the farthest west, bombardments had deci-
mated the German defenses. Moreover, an opportune navigational mistake had landed the
troops at a practically unguarded stretch of the beach.
The
sustained relatively few casualties.
Juno beaches fought their

the mere sight of
way
British
The Americans who landed
and Canadian forces who landed
at
at
Utah
Gold and
ashore, according to plan, and were soon followed by tanks,
which swept most
of the
German
resistance away.
The young
soldiers sta-
tioned to defend that part of the beach were just not expecting to see tanks emerge from the
ocean.
The
fighting
German defenders
at
Sword Beach,
at
rail
For
all
midday, with
all
that
was happening, the German
Xormandy
beaches.
leaders
still
Commanders
where
wouldn't release
insisted that they
fooled. But they were.
of the tragedies, the blunders,
and the strokes of luck, good and bad, the
On
Overlord strategy succeeded along most of the beachhead.

troops were well established by noon.
out the day on the

line,
site,
depot.
reserve forces for the defense of the
would not be
the easternmost invasion
stiffened against the specter of the Allies capturing the nearby city of
Caen, an important
Even
was harder
fifth
one.
Omaha
overshadowed by hundred-foot
a horrifving position, vulnerable to
The hardest
Beach.
cliffs.
fighting of
Omaha was
four of the beaches, Allied
all.
however, raged through-
a relatively
Troops trying
to
narrow strand of shore-
land there found themselves in
machine-gun and mortar
fire
from gun posts above. The
onlv route out lav through four ravines, or "exits." carved bv the wind and water through
VOlCtS OF VALOR
the
cliffs.
in the
The Germans knew
middle of the invasion
a necessity to
But
was
it
behind the
who
about them, of course. Because
and had
span the gap between the British
lines
at
Normandy
sector.
charge of
all
The
one was "Speed and order
dence
was the broadest beach
land-based personnel
bombardments nor
soldiers
were lying dead
in
General Sir Bernard
Overlord,
ot
down
set
landing are the
L.
they didn't
were bewildered,
around,
all
know what
Omaha
in
the water
and
to do.
amphibious
was
essentials." Neither
first
in
assaults.
in evi-
their officers
were confused, and
that contributed as
Ameri< ans was
for the
comrades
their
and on the beach. Blood was omnipresent. For hours,
much
to the horror as
did the
many
German
of
whom
would have been mere nuisances on any other beach.
of injuries thai
The only hope
to
si
ground behind the
ale the cliffs, get to high
defenses, and open the exits. These objectives were easier said than done amid the
crushing noise, violence, and justifiable fear

late
Utah.
Montgomery, who was
his edicts for
guns. In the chaos, there were not even any boats to evacuate the wounded,
German
at
the paratroopers working
Omaha.
at
American
died on
Omaha was
Gold Beach and the Americans
at
had done much to soften the gun batteries on the bluffs. The Americans
Omaha were sitting ducks for the best-equipped and most experienced
battalions in the
first
it
exits inland leading to high ground.
also well defended. Neither the
landed
German
all
area,
morning, though, some troops managed
forces, taking
measured
in
one step
mere
ra<
themselves up the
another forward. By the end of the day,
after
they took the beach and carved out
statistics,
Omaha
ing through the air over
to get
Beach. By
small fighting
cliffs in
cost too high to be
at a
a piece of Free fiance,
two
miles wide and six miles long.
Omaha Beach was
the
German Army's
they might have been able
sternest stand at
drive back the Americans.
to
Normandy and
Had
thai
was there
it
thai
happened, they might
have repelled the entire invasion. Field Marshal Rommel, the one man who might have
managed
a victory in
the Allies, he
was
at
such a close
home
in
battle,
was not even on the scene. By
Germany on D-Day,
celebrating his wife's birthday.
of the invasion unfolded, he tried to redirect his defenses by telephone,

or another
mately
at
on
the
his
mercy
panzer reserves
of
way back
at
to
Normandy. He,
of Adolf Hitler.
On
Germany's defense
to
at
like millions of others in
one
his
As news
train station
Europe, was
D-Day, Hitler countermanded orders
Normandy. By the time he changed
growing tank corps of
a stroke of luck for
mind and allowed
ulti-
to hurl the
the full brunt
rush toward the invasion, the Allies had their beachhead and a
their
own.
Operation Overlord was not over on D-Day. The invasion had only begun, but thanks
the
men who made
the treacherous landing and refused to turn back,
astonishing speed, the stage managers of the operation
beachhead, building floating docks
12
to receive
J.
moved
it
would continue. With
tons of materiel onto the Allied
thousands of tons more. Even
DREZ
to
Omaha
Beach,
the scene of the most bitter fighting on June
though
On
had been there
it
was
6.
and busy port by June
a vast
was
9. It
as
for years.
June 10. General Montgomery invited Winston Churchill to come over
to
Xormandy
for a look.
Remarkably, the prime minister agreed, traveling with several other government
officials to
what had so recently been Nazi
Churchill wrote, "met
me
at
the beach as
territory.
"Montgomery, smiling and confident."
we scrambled
out of our landing
already penetrated seven or eight miles inland. There was very
weather was
brilliant.
We
drove through our limited but
pleasant to see the prosperity of the countryside.
cows basking
or parading in the sunshine."
was
6th. a part of France
The
knew
it.
On
were
Hitler's favorite general.
lives
were
He
at stake.
Rommel
tried to
would hear none
of
it.
On
Rommel, however, had been

inevitable. To
felt
perfectly right.
sin in war."
not doing your duty." All of the
When
enemy
men
Germany, was
came
fire,
and
Twentv vears
after
derful thing to
Rommel
day they
in this
to preserve
But they did
think
paying
it
many
so
Rommel as a traitor. In
Rommel committed suicide.
practically
had made an Allied victory
and the worldcould never
book did more than
CBS anchorman
human
forget.
Britain,
their duty. Despite
for
an ending
it's
at his side,
wandered the
a
won-
fellows twenty years ago were fighting for and
sacri-
our
just
to his epic narrative
Walter Cronkite conducted in 1964.
way
cost of defeating the Nazis. "But
of life."
not for any ambitions of our own. But to
for that principle,
when
D-Day had made an Allied victory
Ambrose was searching
remember what those
what thev did
direct
sue the Allies for peace.
to
D-Day. Cronkite. with General Eisenhower
freedom in the world.
ties.
of the
near-fatal injuries, they iron.
historian Stephen E.
beaches of Normandy, discussing the
territory,
morning
Eisenhower had written his brother from Great
men profiled
D-Dov. he honed in on an interview
ficing for.
was
to regard
of the invading force
their voices, recalling the
'The only unforgivable
and
that he could be candid
the contrary he
be more precise, the
These axe
seasickness,
The
persuade Hitler that the end of the war was inevitable and
October, faced with court-martial and almost certain execution.
"is
It
lovely red and white
after the horrific
D-Day. but the Nazis were doomed.
after
that the only justifiable course, for the sake of
inevitable.
full of
Normandy.
June 17. less than two weeks after the invasion began, he returned to Germany.
Once
Hitler
fields
Only four days
in
His army had
or activity.
free again.
Normandy continued
fighting in
The
domain
fertile
craft.
little firing
Eisenhower
make
said.
on
this
"Not to conquer any
sure that Hitler could not destroy
overwhelming. To think of the
a terrible price
it's
lives that
were given
beach alone, on that one day. 2.000 casual-
so that the world could be free.
It
just
shows what
free
men
will
do
rather than be slaves."
This book
published
for the sixtieth
niscences of D-Dav veterans
who
anniversary of D-Day
is
comprised
ol the
remi-
refused to be slaves.
VOICES OF VALOR
13
Barfleur^
THE FINAL OVERLORD PLAN

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Drop zones
^^~"""
D Day phase
-:-:-:-:-
Inundated area
elevations
50
in
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meters
200 AND ABOVE

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US.
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'
THE CALL TO ARMS AND

GATHERING FOR D DAY
On
Saturday,
December
6.
Americans basked
1941.
in the
warm
glow of safety ensured by the vastness of two oceans protecting

nation's flanks
them out
and by an American president who had vowed
war verbally
in
to the
events unfolding
keep
in
war-ravaged Europe, and they fought the
barbershops, corner bars, and grocery stores. But this idle chat did not trans-
sentiment for another bailout of Europe as
Most Americans were interested

of the Constitution,
tions
to
of war.
Americans listened
late into
their
and
in their Lifetimes, there
had experienced World War
in
in the "pursuit of
World War
I.
happiness" promised by the Cramers
had been
little
time for
Gallup polls of the time told Franklin Roosevelt he was on solid ground
involvement. Eighty pen enl
oi
Ameri< ans were opposed
Not even the German sinking
of the
that.
Two
genera-
and the Roper and
or the Great Depression, or both,
to
oppose Amerii an
to war. period.
American ship Reuben lames
in
October 1941 and
the loss of close to one hundred fellow Americans could budge the population toward war.
The president was forced to assure the nation that this sinking would not cause a German-
American diplomatic break even

But on December
heeded the
Disk
call to
1,
7,
Tracks 2-6:
1944
becomes supreme
wore
black
armband
in
honor of the American dead.
everything changed. America was attacked, the youth of America
arms, and
Enlistment and training
Jan. 15,
as he
lines
formed around the blocks
OPPOSITE: The
at recruiting stations.
lines outside recruiting offices
following Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor
June
4,
1944
June
5,
in
grew dramatically
1941.
0015-0300
1944
makes decision
Americans
in
Normandy
(British
to the east, then
Americans to the west)
ELEVATORS
TO POST OFFICE
0700
0730-0745
Rangers
Gold, Sword,
Omaha
scale Pointe
Beaches
du Hoc
and juno
Beaches
Utah and
SQ
0930-1330
"WWf-
HfnmTH
meet airborne
troops at Orne
bridges
meets 101st
inland from
heads se
<**&
The
staff of a U.S.
station
in
Army
recruiting
Boston, Massachusetts,
gather around a radio as President

Franklin D. Roosevelt asks Congress for
a declaration of
war against Japan.
came
to
arms
to defeat the
about the "Day of Infamy"
when Germany
They came
Some were
parents' signatures.
fight in
to
state
too
and
territory,
young but
Men came
lied
and
and
for
to
Some came
them had been
and
by the hundreds of thousands
every corner of the world.
because someone close
draftees,
every possible
about their age or forged
to
buddies, or because their older brothers were
18
had hrought
that
include the Nazis as enemies.
into uniform as volunteers
came from every
reason.
enemy
Harhor, and four days later
declared war against the United States, those
same Americans were happy
they
Japanese
at Fearl
J.
DREZ
killed.
to
be with their
in
the war. or
While most
with lines of
trips to the
men
filling
induction center were uneventful,
out forms, getting shots, and reading
eye charts, they were not always routine.
Mutter had a kidney ailment that threatened
L.
F.
him out
being
to enlist in the
me
and the thought
in,
of
bitter pill.
was
patriotism
decided
me
behind was a
left
"My
kept
Army. His friends were
of the
WANT YOU
keep
to
really
he
inflated,"
said.
Army. At the induction
had
"I
center, they
there two days, urinating in a bottle, before they gave
and
a rejection slip
told
me had
kidney problem.
was
pretty disappointed.
who
"There were three of us guys
palled around together:
Dinky. Arnie, and myself. Dinky got drafted, so Arnie and
board and asked
to the draft
Arnie and
were due
to
if
we could
all
went
go together. Since
be drafted in a few months anyway,
they approved."
But the Army's approval of that arrangement was without
knowledge
the
that
Mutter had a health problem, and he wasn't
them. He counted on his friend Dinky
telling
"In the induction center,
Dinky
told
did and
to save a little for
we were
my
help him.
to
taking our physicals,
bottle, or
He
wouldn't pass.
passed."
The paratroopers challenged Arthur Thompson. Tommy,

his friends called him,
tractor driver.
outfit.
One day
The man
"Well, he
didn't
had
boots and that
had enlisted
have
to say a
ENLIST
as
go into the Air Corps as a
a paratrooper recruiter
a satin
little
to
^05.ARMY
word
to get
came
to talk to his
Tommy to
sign up.
jumpsuit on," said Thompson, "and
hat with that
little
white thing on
it,
and
the white parachute, and he unrolled this poster, and the picture of a paratrooper
Enemy
Jump.'
there!
He
the
followed him right over there and signed up. Right
Honest
to
God!"
Melvin's experience joining the service was a cause
embarrassment. He had gone
after
Down on
Like a Falcon from Above. Don't Walk into the Fight,

I
Howard
for
and the words, 'Swoop
down
to the
enlistment office
being called in the draft and stood in a line of twelve men.
noticed a rather skinny fellow standing in front of
him and
VOICES OF VALOR
i)
NOW
WHILE MOST TRIPS TO

THE INDUCTION CENTER
wondered how such
Army. Melvin was short and
the
had the look of
WERE UNEVENTFUL, WITH
UHES OF MEN
FILLING
OUT FORMS, GETTING
puny-looking individual could get into
"When we
in front of
end of the
got to the
said to me. 'You didn't
guy
make
it.
in great
shape, and
me. the puny
line." said
Melvin, "they
And
You're not in the Army.'

guy,
little
Melvin was humiliated and
SHOTS, AND READING EYE
and
feisty
a boxer.
made
what might
tried to explain
have happened, hut the enlistment people had no time
CHARTS, THEY WERE HOT
ALWAYS ROUTINE.
Melvin surmised
his papers
had gone
for that.
the papers had gotten switched, and that
th.it
change his
didn't
the
it."
to the frail fellow in front of
him. Hut
it
status.
So he went down the next day
and
to enlist
told the' recruiters
he wanted to join the paratroopers. "Thin- told me," said
that
Melvin, "Well,
sit
down
in that hall there
and the doctor
will take
care of you. because you've got to get a special examination.'
"So
waited there
enough nerve
come
out?"
about two hours, and finally
for
knock on the
knocked on the door, and
door,'
here's a
on the desk, and he
his feet
Hey, when
to ask the sergeant.
'Oh,
sa\
the doctor
is
up
gonna
said the sergeant, so
guy with
a cigar in his
'What do you want?'
s.
got
Well. I'm supposed to get a special examination
mouth,
And
said.
to join the para-
troopers.'
"He
said, 'Oh. that's fine.
the desk, and he said.
and he
lump
Jump up on
the desk.'
oil
tin;
I
desk.'
jumped
jumped on
off the desk,
said. 'OK, you're ready!'"
Enlistment wasn't happening only in America. Although

able-bodied
men were
called
up
in
Great Britain,
some not
all
serv-
ing were anxiously trying to get into the fray. Peter Masters's
enlistment was perhaps the strangest of
with
it
the classification of
"When
the Nazis
1938, things
came
because
it
that
my
under the Nazis
for six
a kid that
carried
family, being Jewish.
took us until the 21st of August, so
It
me from
all,
alien."
Austria on the 12th of March,
to
became so bad
tried to get out.
turn
"enemy
lived
months, which was quite sufficient
had been brought up
to
as a pacifist to a
carte blanche volunteer wanting to get part of the action
against the Nazis."
J.
DREZ
But
when
part of Masters's family
Great Britain [some would perish

greeted with
Masters, "having
alien."
had other
many
skills that
an interview.
"I
British as an
been
first
But that did not
Masters and
escape
to
to
enthusiasm.
little
was interned by the
"I
managed
Auschwitz], they were
at
enemy
alien," said
classified as a 'friendly'
enemy
last long.
of his friends could speak
were
by a
got an interview
German and
Soon he found himself
attractive.
at
who was
visiting officer
wearing no rank insignia, a raincoat, and dark glasses, and

turned out
commando
be the skipper of a
to
troop that was
being formed from people just like me: refugees from

Austria,
in the British
Commandos.
future 101st Airborne trooper also
barely escaping Nazi tyranny.
aunt.
When
He was
came from Germany,
Fred Patheiger.
Germany with my mother, grandmother, and
lived in
"I
Germany
Hungary, and some from Czechoslovakia." Masters
would serve
it
Hitler got into power,
aunt had to join the party.
my
had
couldn't have gone to school.
mother, grandmother, and
to join the Hitler
Youth or
youngster crawling into the living room and listening
much
speak, that,
to
my
discovered one day, while a
amazement,
my
to
them
grandfather on
my
mother's side was Jewish.
ried
"My aunt went with a fellow. They were going to get marand she owned up to him about her background, and when
he found out that her father had been Jewish, well, that was
He
reported
the party;
and we were
had
Thanks
his family
it
to
all
in trouble.
We had
it.
to get out of
Fred C. Patheiger, born
to get out of the Hitler Youth."
another aunt in Chicago, Patheiger and some of
managed
to
escape before Nazi tyranny consumed
them, but most of his family perished in Germany. He eventually enlisted in the U.S.
Army and became
eventually volunteered with the 101st
Airborne Division.
a paratrooper.
The Army's numbers swelled during the years from 1942

until the
beginning of 1944.
Americans fought
Africa
to
and
England
Many
of those recently enlisted
in initial battles against the
in Italy in 1943, but a
Germans
in
North
tremendous number were sent
to train as part of the
enormous
force required to
VOICES OF VALOR
in Rastatt,
Germany, joined the U.S. Army after

fleeing to Chicago with his family. He
21
Life
went on
for the British citizenry,
despite being surrounded by vehicles
and men on
their
way
to France.
engage the Germans in Europe. England found
its
population
swelled by young Americans gathering there lor the cross-
channe] attack. The
common
quip was thai the only things
preventing the whole island from sinking into the sea from the
increased weight were the barrage balloons (the tethered balloons
hung above
making
strategic locations to prevent low-flying aircraft
Young Americans were quartered
in British
brought with them strange modifications

guage. Suddenly the buzzword on
22
from
strafing attacks).
J.
DREZ
homes, and
to the English lan-
London
streets
was "Got
some gum, chum?" These young Americans were

and they had not been drained by the
affected the population of England during the
German
against the
The evidence
big
strains of
and brash,
war
had
that
when
of the years
had been alone was
Britain
It
was
a sobering sight to see
Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament surrounded by barbed
wire and piles of rubble that had once been buildings.
said,
my
of
arrived to serve in the
Army
Air Corps,
most vivid memories was going through
London on
that
speedy
blackout.
was
a bright moonlit night,
It
little
English train in the middle of the
and the moon was shin-
ing off the silver barrage balloons that were flying above
the railroad tracks and
all
of London.
It
was
all
a picture that
of
one
could never forget."

Robert Wilkins from Atchison, Kansas, was surprised to be
quartered
in
an English home. He was with the Combat
Engineers, and
upon
arrival in
He and
England his unit was taken
town
of Paignton.
down
the streets of the small town.
to the
the other soldiers rode in a truck
"The authorities would go down the

the truck
would stop and they would
he
street,"
said,
"and
say, All right, three of
you
out here.'
"They'd march you into a house and say to the owner, 'These
are your
American
"The home
named
troops.
went
They
would even
ately thought that this
are going to be staying with you.'
let
made
us
us remove our boots outside
come
was going
to
it
own
was
a
It
all;
but after
treated us like
we
we
sons.
"Everything was blackout and

Mr. Glover
immedi-
difficult situation,
at
became acquainted with the Glovers, they

their
We
in the house.
be a very
and we certainly weren't happy with
were
people were
into," said Wilkins, "the
Glover. Mrs. Glover
before she
would
we
didn't
do much
at night.
give us a piano concert in the evening,
and
it
moving experience."
was only natural
to
POPULATION SWELLED
DY YOUNG AMERICANS
not lost on the arriving Americans.
"One
ITS
two years alone
might.
Dan Morse, who
ENGLAND FOUND
form relationships with the British
people because of the close-quartered living, but
it
also created
VOICES OF VALOR
GATHERING THERE FOR THE
CROSS-CHANNEL ATTACK.
strained feelings. These
American GIs dated
British girls,
which
aggravated British boys, and the American soldiers were paid a

little
more money than
dent and.
the British soldiers.
most times,
at
This led
They were
confi-
noisy.
popular refrain heard throughout England:
to a
"The prohlem with the Americans
that they are overpaid,
is
oversexed, and oyer here!"
The American GIs were not

ditty,
to
be intimidated by a simple
and they countered with a slogan of
their
lem with the British lads." they would
own: "The prob-
say, "is that they are
underpaid, undersexed. and under Eisenhower!"
These innocent barbs eventually gave way

task at hand,
attack
It
was
and
that
daunting
was
launch a successful cross-channel
to
accomplished only twice
feat
task,
to the greater
in
two thousand
and the future of Europe,
western civilization, hung
if
years.
not
all
of
in the balance.
Although the invasion area was known by only the highest

r,
inking personnel in the combined Anglo-American brain
trust.
the invasion force trained in Britain for whatever mission
it
might be assigned.
The Amerii
,n\
division that had been in England the longest
by D-Day was the 29th Division, "the Blue and Gray Division."
PFC Harold Baumgarten, from
City,
New
York
joined the 116th Regiment, 29th
Division in England.
in
He
is
pictured here
Torquay, England, on March
1944 his nineteenth
2,
birthday.
made up
When
of National
Harold
Guard
forces from Virginia
Baumgarten from
New
and Maryland.
York City arrived in
Scotland in early 1944, he joined the 116th Regiment of the

2<)th Division, stationed in
"We
for
got
Plymouth.
an introductory explanation of what we were there
and what was going
happen
to
second front
in
29th Division
England, and
forces into the
Europe: and that two out of three of us aren't
expected to come back, and

hell\. to
Baumgarten.
to us." said
Canham of the 116th Infantry of the

spoke to us at Crown Barracks in Plymouth,
explained to us that we are going to be the first
"Colonel
if
anybody's got butterflies
ask for a transfer now. because
it's
going
to
in the
be that kind
of an operation."
PFC John Robertson,

briefing.
24
"We were
also of the 29th Division, described his
told that
we were
J.
DREZ
bringing the 2nd Battalion
and we would
of the 116th Infantry Regiment to full strength

start
amphibious training
been chosen
for the first
for the invasion
because our unit had
wave on D-Day
"Our camp was an English barracks and our training area
was one
that
we were
Commandos. The
hazardous as
rifle
fierce
told
had been used by the
range was on the moors and was very
winds whipped up without warning, blow-
ing targets out of their holders.
We dug
holes on the slopes of
moors and had Sherman tanks run over
the
ing experience considering
were.
was
It
British
us.
very frighten-
how mushy and wavy
the
moors
sort of a land of trembling earth."
PFC Harry Parley of the 29th Division was a flamethrower

man. "The moment of my arrival is still quite vivid. We were
ushered into a room in one of the Quonset huts and told to sit
on the floor. A few moments later, our new CO walked in, said
name was Captain Lawrence Madill, and that our comto be first wave in the invasion of France, that 30
percent casualties were expected, and that we were them. As
his
pany was
simple as that!"
Parley did not
that grim
let
announcement
spoil his sense of
John Robertson served
in
the 116th
Regiment, 29th Division on D-Day. He
humor. As
and relished
flamethrower man, he was also a practical joker

terrorizing his buddies
who
did not
know how
his
is
shown here
in
a portrait from 1945
with the decorations he earned during
the war, including a Presidential Unit
formidable weapon operated.
Citation for the 116th
"While waiting
would
to
be loaded onto the ships
at
dockside,
Purple Heart.
often light a cigarette using the flamethrower. Being expe-
rienced with
my
weapon,
knew
all
the safety factors.
could,
without triggering the propelling mechanism, light a cigarette by
simply producing a small flame

so,
it
at
the
mouth
produced the same hissing sound as when the thrower was
actually being fired.
sound,
When my team would
English Channel and
might be similar
job
hear the terrifying
would immediately be the only one on the dock."
Part of the invasion force's training
The
of the gun. In doing
make
to the actual
of finding suitable
Lieutenant Colonel Paul
was
to
go out into the
practice landings on beaches that
invasion beaches
training beaches
Thompson
of the
but
had
where?
fallen
to
6th Engineering
Special Brigade.
VOICES OF VALOR
25
on D-Day, and a
On the beaches
of Great Britain,
the Allied forces trained for
amphibious landings. Here

an LCT unloads
and men
at
its
cargo of tanks
Woolacombe, England.
ing,
"There did exist one
site,"
and
and weather so unpredictable
ther
of
surfs so rough,
the
great
navies
he said, "with tides so wide-rang-
nor
the
dashing
Mountbatten had ever done more than take
that nei-
[Lord
a look at
it
Louis]
and run.
This fearsome sight was called VVoolacombe-Appledoor. or
Woolacombe
for short.
"At this time.
the
Woolacombe
didn't appreciate another characteristic of
training area.
And that was its startling

Normandy which would
code name 'Omaha.' By
similarity to a certain coastal area in
make
March
26
the history books under a

of 1944, all nine
combat teams
J.
DREZ
of the three
D-Day
assault divisions
Woolacombe
and 4th
29th.
1st.
had gone through the
mill."
D-Day was approaching and

American rehearsals
was time
it
for the invasion.
for
the big
These were staged on the
beaches of Slapton Sands in Devonshire. The waters there were

not nearly as furious as those at Woolacombe. and those final
exercises
would prove
had been honed
One
the readiness of the landing force that
to a razor's edge.
exercise, called Operation Tiger, took place
27-28. 1944. Lieutenant Eugene Bernstein,
LCT(R) [Landing Craft Tank

very
realistic.
on April
who commanded an
(Rocket)], thought the exercise
was
His craft was equipped with racks capable of
fir-
ing 1.060 rockets as an area-saturation weapon.
midnight we would open a
'At
were
for
go to Slapton Sands.
to
Slapton Sands,
fire
turn 180 degrees,
our rockets on designated
attack transports into small boats,
were
set of orders to find that
We would
full-scale operations
with
targets,
we
make
unload
and assault the beach. These
aircraft cover,
major ship bom-
bardment, the works."

But on that final training exercise something went terribly
wrong. German E-boats. using utmost stealth in the dark,
PFC Harry Parley trained as a

flamethrower
slipped past a destroyer screen and ran undaunted through the
The speeding boats then launched
fleet.
a torpedo attack at the
transports loaded with troops waiting to disembark for the exercise.
It
was
a disaster.
Ewell Lunsford with the 4th Medical Battalion was on
board one of the ships
"We
off the
lost five of the
one that
was
when
the torpedoes
hit.
nine ships and the whole end was knocked

on,
and
was down
in the hold with the
vehicles and gasoline and ammunition, and just packed in there.

"I
heard one torpedo come sliding
of the ship,
the stern
and
it
end of
didn't explode,
and
it
across the end. and
back there. But
we
it
down
the side of the hull
and then the next one caught
tore off about thirty feet all the
was
way
walking out of a big door
just like
stayed on top.
We
didn't sink."
Lunsford scrambled topside as one of the E-boats made a
second pass.
VOICES OF VALOR
man
for the 116th
Regiment, 29th Division.
27
LST-289 was hit in the stem by a

German E-boat torpedo on April 28,
1944. The enemy vessel had slipped
past a screen of destroyers and
wreaked havoc on transport vessels
conducting a training maneuver.
managed
"I
up on
to get
thick as hair on a dog's back.

in this
moonlit night.
the ship.
The guys were
was along the
rlown with
in
saw one
could see
on
firing
port side that
two and went down
top. Tracer bullets
hit
and
it
as
old H-boats
and there was one ship
saw him
little
just
coming down alongside
it
it.
of those
were
just
three minutes. Everything in
of
that
broke in
it
went
it."
There were over one thousand casualties with 750 men

killed in the surprise attack
on the
immediately shrouded the event

poses
lest
whisked
the
German Army
off to isolated areas
fleet.
in
gain information. Survivors were
and separated from
D-Day approached.
28
Supreme headquarters
secrecy for security pur-
J.
DREZ
their units as
"There never was anything in the paper about

Lunsford. "[No one ever]
knew
except one
little
that," said
piece in a
paper from somewhere in Kentucky. Nothing was ever said

about
it,
when
but
they took us ashore, they marched us
back out in those woods, away from everything. Wouldn't

talk to
way
let
us
anybody."
corner of southern England. All personnel trained without
minute,
That would be revealed only
objective.
when
the force had
moved
at
the last
into the marshaling areas
and was quarantined.

Staff Sergeant Jim Wallwork, assigned to the Glider Pilot
Regiment, wondered
been posted
to the
why he and
airdrome
at
sixteen other glider pilots had
Tarrent Rushton
where there
were two squadrons flying Halifax gliders and another

squadron flying Horsa
gliders.
Wallwork was there

cially night flying
fined field.
choose
with a powerless glider to land in a
named Operation
"We began
to
to perfect his flying techniques, espe-
The D-Day operation
appropriately
flying into a
tiny,
con-
which he trained was
Deadstick.
little
small L-shaped
for
place that was a hell of a place
wood about
hundred yards
four
down the long side of the 'L' and a couple of hundred yards
down the short side. That wasn't so bad in broad daylight, and
we became fairly proficient until they decided to do this with
night goggles [used to simulate night vision].
"You could always whip the night goggles

going to overshoot, but
we began
whoever thought
ing that
The
to play
of the goggles
it
did forty-three flights,
many
Staff Sergeant Oliver Boland.

feet, fly a
of
off if
you were
fairly square, realiz-
must have had a reason."
training for Operation Deadstick
seven thousand
was
them remote
"The object was
relentless. "I
release," said
to release at
course dead-accurate flying, with
the copilot saying 'turn now,' and descend at a certain speed,
which we did during the day and

no
thirteen times at night, with
lights at all."
By
WOULD PROVE THE

READINESS OF THE
LANDING FORCE THAT
HAD BEEN HONED TO
Training continued for the Allied forces in every nook and
knowing the
THOSE FINAL EXERCISES
the end of
May 1944
Eisenhower's force was ready.
VOICES OF VALOR
A RAZOR'S EDGE.
Chapter
2
LAUNCHING
THE ATTACK
General Dwight David Eisenhower's appointment came suddenly.
Although he had commanded three Allied invasions

Sicily,
and
the
Italy,
command
Europe was not decided upon
for the invasion
until the last
Within the Anglo-American alliance
mander
for the
force.
If
moment.
come from
British, but in 1944.
great majority of the fighting forces both on land and in the
November
1943.
President
Franklin
Roosevelt
that the
com-
the country providing the pre-
Invasion had been launched
tin-
supreme commander would have been
In
onto the Continent of
had always been understood
it
cross-channel attack would
ponderance of fighting
North Africa,
in
in
1943.
then the
America was providing the

air.
and Prime Minister Winston
Churchill met in Tehran with Marshal Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union. Russia had
Army on
absorbed the fierce blows of the German

died by the millions
would open
at
its
home
soil since 1941.
Leningrad and Stalingrad. Stalin wanted
the second front that
would
offer his
to
and Russians
know when
the Allies
blood-drained country some
relief.
Roosevelt deferred and said a decision had not yet been made. Stalin was miffed.
He
commander was named, he would
not
expressed distrust in his
allies
believe that a second front
_ m
Disk
1,
Tracks 7-9:
Final preparations
for
the invasion
Jan. 15, 1944
supreme
and stated
that until a
would be opened.
OPPOSITE:
sits
British
prime minister Winston Churchill
(front, left)
with United States president Franklin D. Roosevelt (front, right).
Between the two leaders stands Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten.
June
4,
1944
operatives
in
put on
alert
June
5,
makes decision
to
0015-0300
1944
proceed with
invasion
in
Normandy
(Bi
to the east, then
0630
H-Houron
Utah and
0700
U.S.
0730-0745
0930-1330
Army
U.S. 4th Infant
Rangers
Gold, Sword,
Omaha
scale Pointe
Beaches
du Hoc
and Juno
Beaches
Troops
advance
meet airborne
troops at Orne
meets 101st
bridges
Pouppeville
Airborne
at
inland
inland from
Omaha
Beach
heads secured;
iop
Oslo Hague
Audervf'trj
In early
December. Roosevelt and Churchill continued
Cairo. Egypt, for
more
up on December
6.
talks.
As the
last
to
meeting was breaking
Roosevelt had General Marshall scribble a
note to send to Stalin stating. "The immediate appointment of
General Eisenhower
to
command
of Overlord operation has
been decided upon." Roosevelt signed the note immediatelv
and also announced

1944.
his decision to Churchill.
On
January 15.
Eisenhower became Supreme Commander. Allied
Expeditionary Force.
Eisenhower inherited the Overlord plan sketched out

1943 by Lieutenant General Frederick Morgan
the post of Chief of Staff to the
Supreme
who served at
Command
Allied
(COSSAC). Morgan had drawn the plan based on

factors that limited his scope.
for
an invasion did not allow
Tim shortage
for
in
number
of
of landing craft
multiple landings along the
French coast and limited the assault
to three divisions attack-
ing on a narrow front.
Geography limited the
attack, as well.
It
had
to
be within
the range of fighter aircraft living from England, and had to take
place across beaches that had the ability to support unloading
operations until a port could be captured and opened.
had
to
be
at a location that
would
facilitate
vering that would target the heartland of
It
also
follow-up maneu-
Germany The obvious
choice was Pas-de-Calais, just twenty-five miles across the
channel from Dover, and the shortest route
to Berlin.
But the Germans also recognized that Calais was the ideal
landing spot, so they
nable.
made
the fortifications virtually impreg-
The low shelving beaches between the Caen Canal and
the Cotentin Peninsula on the
Normandy
coast offered
COSSAC
an area meeting the stringent requirements. Aerial photographs

also
showed
that the constructed defenses
When Eisenhower
took
were
relatively light.
command, he modified
the plan to
increase the three-division landing force to five, and added
airborne divisions to secure the flanks of the battle area.
He
also extended the invasion front to the west to land on the
Cotentin Peninsula, thereby placing infantry closer to the large

port of Cherbourg.
J.
DREZ
^p^
But
for
Eisenhower
have a chance
to
at success,
he had
General Dwight
at left)
at his
is
The
point of attack.
Marshal
and builds up from the
defending forces
To attempt
to
first
first
to
vulnerability of an amphibious
if the}'
man who
soldier
is
know where
lands on the beach.
the full strength of the
the attack will take place.
confuse the enemy, Eisenhower adopted the
British deception plan called Operation Fortitude.
As the war progressed, so did the

secret: a
war
of plots
double agents,
false agents, treachery, cloaks
gold. Deceptions
truth,
and
emerging in
The
Allies
lies
tales to
Kingdom with
tangles,
and daggers, and
were melded with tantalizing

throw the Germans
were not the only ones
tions. In German}', Hitler
the United
battle to safeguard the
and counterplots, tangles within
spies.
and dropped by parachute
bits of
off the track.
to initiate
spy opera-
had ordered the Abwehr
Some were flown
at night into the
to
to
deluge
England
countryside to
VOICES OF VALOR
Sir
(far right).
that the invading force starts with nothing ashore
Arrayed against that
Eisenhower (shown
of the vast Allied
1944. Here he
oversees training with British Field
could not unleash their overwhelmingly superior force against
invasion
D.
command
operation on January
deceive the Germans as to where the attack would come, so they
him
took
33
15,
Bernard Law Montgomery
melt into the mainstream of the British population. Others
came by
sea.
soon,
Pretty
radios
Abwehr's headquarters
the
at
Hamburg crackled with news from
their agents. Secret
in
messages
sent from inside England described troop concentrations, hid-
den
gun emplacements,
airfields,
other critical data.

alties
all.
The message
antiaircraft locations,
traffic
was
occurred and some radios suddenly went
the
Germans considered
their
in itself a
VJ
disaster,
and
as
was
that every single
each day went
had been arrested

spies
casu-
but
all in
silent,
spy operation was
its
deception. In reality, the Abwehr's operation was a
The
fact
and
Some
spy operation a success.
However, the German perception of
steady.
by,
remarkable
were made the proverbial
turn or hang.
Become
it
became more
spy ever dispatched

feat in itself.
disastrous.
to
England
The captured
otter they could not refuse:
double agent or face the hangman's
noose. Most chose the former and pretended to work for the
l-'athcrland
when,
in fact,
they were working for their captors.
The information they sent from Britain was only what the
Allies
fallen
wanted released. Without knowing

victim
to
it.
deception
gigantic
Abwehr bad
the
operation
called
Operation Double Gross.
While Operation Eortitude seduced German

the Overlord planners faced their
Once
the
Normandy
own
operational problems.
invasion area had been selected, there
remained only the question of when. The

the selection of the date
Dawn would
intelligence,
factors contributing to
were many.
be the time, chosen because the great armada
needed the cover of darkness
to arrive in the attack area with
the least possibility of detection.
The
early time of attack
would
also give the Allied forces a full day of light to attempt to establish a
beachhead and consolidate
The phase
It
of the
was imperative
low tide
to
that the great
low
their positions.
the level of the tides were vital.
landing force
come ashore with
expose underwater obstacles that could
toms out of landing

ing at
moon and
tide
craft or
would require
rip the bot-
explode attached mines. But landthat the soldiers
J.
DREZ
make
a long
wade
could reach the beach and work their way
in before they
to the
draws. Meanwhile, the bombers and paratroopers needed

least a
half-moon
to
conduct successful
Finally, the invasion

to
come
to
A CHANCE AT SUCCESS,
air operations.
late
enough
HE HAD TO DECEIVE THE
in the year
GERMANS AS TO WHERE THE
allow final springtime training in England, but also early
enough so
months
ter.
had
FOR EISENHOWER TO HAVE
at
that the invading forces
of imposing criteria could be
list
few days
in all of 1944: the first
third
weeks
four
at least
in
May and
to
THEIR OVERWHELMINGLY
the second and
SUPERIOR FORCE AGAINST
have a particular combination of tides,
moon," said General Eisenhower. "You had

May, and a couple of days in June.
a couple of
We would
like to
and
light,
May
OF ATTACK.
have gone
tes Dunes
t Varreville
5 goal
proved
to
be wishful thinking and was
The Allied planners counted up the landing
short-lived.
HIM AT HIS POINT
days in
on the 5th of May."
needed
THEY COULD NOT UNLEASH
met only three times
in June.
"We had
But the
ATTACK WOULD COME, SO
campaigning weather before the onset of win-
of good
This
would have
for the attack
and found
were 271
that they
craft
short.
1
Eisenhower chose
allow a
month
to
move
the date back to June 5 in order to
for industrial
production
Banc* aV
Grand Vey
Points du
Hoe
Grandcomp-tes BoinsS^
to close the gap.
ViarvMe-sur-
Churchill was frustrated and growled that the destinies of

the "two greatest empires
seemed
to
be tied up in some goddam
thing called LSTs."
But LSTs (Landing Ship, Tank) were not the only problem
facing the Allies.
An
internal conflict threatened to sunder the
carefully forged alliance.
As the date
of the invasion
faced with a dilemma.

battlefield,
gets.
and
that
It
came
closer,
was imperative
for
Eisenhower was
him
to isolate the
meant diverting the bombing
of other tar-
Eisenhower argued that while attacking German
oil
sources and infrastructure would have the long-term effect of

destruction of an important
decisive, the
enemy resource and would be
immediate success of the cross-channel attack
rested in the ability to keep the

battlefield.
Plan,
which
and other
ity to
To accomplish
enemy from
reinforcing the
he favored the Transportation
targeted rolling stock, marshaling yards, bridges,
targets that
move
this,
to the
would hinder
the
German Army's
landing area during those
first critical
abil-
days
VOICES OF VALOR
St Laurent-sui
of
lodgment and buildup when an amphibious attack was
most vulnerable.
The
was such
resistance to Eisenhower's plan
much
After enduring
announcing
that
to
him
as he
saw
use the
to
military
command
umes
Eisenhower's dedication to his plan,
in the history of
(Bill)
Tucker, 505th
plan
moved
in
August 1944.
after Tucker's
return from
Normandy.
to
that
America's best general and would be
at
men. and
to
weeks, the decep-
George Patton was
the spear point of the
was delighted
to take
advantage of
misconception.
this
Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd

taken
to his
vol-
high gear. From the beginning, the
into
German High Command contended
first
Airborne Division. This picture was
he pre-
vi( tory.
Allied attack. Eisenhower

PFC William
to say,
modern warfare spoke
As the months before D-Day dwindled

tion
air forces that
from the most prestigious
vailed, but his willingness to resign
ol
felt
accomplish the mis-
to
fit
he would resign and go home. Needless
Allied
he
bickering, he resolved the impasse by
he were not allowed
if
had been entrusted

sion,
that
supreme commander was being undermined.
his authority as
United States
Army Group (FUSAG). commanded by
General Patton. was positioned around Dover where
Many
poised to attack Pas-de-Calais.
it
appeared
of Patton's
tanks and
men
but capable
trucks were rubber models easily Lifted by two
of deceiving aerial photographs. Patton himself appeared often

in public to fix his location in the
shell of
More remarkable was

was
all.
an
German mind. FUSAG was
an army.
not the force
it
the British 4th
appeared
Army. While
to be. the 4th
Army
FUSAG
didn't exist at
Several dozen middle-age to over-age British officers, with

ai
ompanying entourage
reaches of Scotland
Through radio
traffic,
German mind,
in
this
of radio operators, settled in the far
room beneath Edinburgh
Castle.
tiny force tried to create, in the
250.000-man army capable of
prodigious.
invading Norway.
They must have had some

Norway's garrison, bringing
German High Command was
success, because Hitler reinforced

it
to
thirteen divisions.
led to believe that
eighty-nine divisions when, in
36
up
fact,
J.
Eisenhower had
he only had forty-seven.
DREZ
The
First
United States
was perhaps
Army Group (FUSAG)
the greatest fake army
ever assembled. The decoy tanks (such
shown here) and other vehiwere positioned near Dover,

England, where they appeared ready
as the one
cles
for transport to
Pas-de-Calais the sec-
tion of France the Allies

to think
Toward the end
of May, the great force
moved
into the mar-
shaling areas where they were quarantined: no one

out.
Men
no one
with dental emergencies were taken out under guard
and then returned
to the
quarantined areas.
Regiment
In the area of the 505th Parachute Infantry
of the
in,
82nd Airborne Division, speculation ran
wild.
(PIR)
PFC
Bill
Tree
Tucker, from Massachusetts, read to pass the time.

"I
Grows
started to read a book,

in Brookl\n.
There were guys saying

Yugoslavia, etcetera.
table,
and
it
got quite interesting,
we were
At the sand tables,
we
When
are going to
all
making
jump
they took off the cover
in
bets.
Norway
at the
sand
they had a complete layout and aerial photograph of
Sainte-Mere-Eglise.
"Well
my reaction wasn't anything startling. was old enough

I
to realize that
the place.
we weren't going
to
jump
The word 'Normandy' was
into the Ruhr. France
to
me
was
a romantic word.
It
VOICES OF VALOR
37
wanted
they would strike.
Hitler
was not
just France,
intrigued.
It
"One
and
years,
the time."
changed
maps were exceedingly
the
Howard Melvin.
Sergeant
at
we had when we went
that the landscape hadn't
all
read enough to be
biggest thing in history
advantages
the
of
Normandy was
was Normandy, and
it
was the
would be
11
the 505th. and Melvin knew that
the third
some
things
in a
into
hundred
accurate,"
said
combat jump
for
would go wrong.
But they were ready.
"The jumps
knew
th.it
it
felt
that
we
was not going
planned
i'\,u tly
and
into Sicily
we
experience and
The
it.
were also
Italy
.it
night.
We
had the
We
could handle the situation. ...

to
go by the numbers as they
airplane's in Sicily
and
had bro-
Italy
ken formations."
Joseph Blaylock from Wiggins. Mississippi, was assigned
the 2()th Field Artillery of the 4th Division. "Around the
part of
June
we
got ready to pull out of
Crompton down
marshaling areas, and the whole town turned out

because they had
bye
to us.
this
was the
"(
)n
then
lime
some
groups, as
Ed Jeziorski was a machine gunner for
the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment.
Though
it
is difficult
to see in this
picture (taken shortly after the
Normandy campaign),
and we had
first
into the
say good-
a feeling that
real thing.
we were
!).
by General Barton
talk
a feeling
to
to
[(
called into a big tent
lommanding General 4th
ol the
commanders had
far
Idling us where
.is
and were given
Beach, and also explained
to
Division],
and
taken over and broke us into
we were going
us where
to
make Utah
Omaha Beach would
be,
and then where the French and the English and the Canadians
would
he.
and they
told us ahout
Normandy
So, they gave us
Jeziorski recalls
that small pieces of each of his ears
were already missing then evidence of
even the pear

as putting our
near-misses by the enemy.
The men
tree,
gun
also
we would
how precise
or apple tree, that

positions. That's
be under as
it
far
was."
had clothing impregnated with chemicals
to
provide protection should the Germans introduce gas warfare.
"During
this time," said
Edward
with the 507th PIR, "we had
jumpsuit
to
all
Jeziorski, a
be impregnated with some kind of
or so later, he got back his
want
38
to tell all they
the
stiffest,
to turn in oik;
stuff."
A week
newly impregnated jumpsuit.
"We received our jumpsuits and put
est,
machine gunner
been ordered
were the
those suckers on.
lousiest, the coldest, the
clammi-
the stinkiest articles of clothing that were ever
J.
DREZ
'
dreamed up
be worn by individuals. Surely the guy that was
to
responsible
the
for
on
idea
screwup
this
received
Distinguished Service Medal from the devil himself."
The U.S.
company commander, assembled
company, ordered trucks, and drove
Joseph Dragotto. "In the
American
Red One."
as "the Big
an area north of London.
in
"Captain Briggs. our

entire
[of]
known
1st Infantry Division,
was assembled
were assembled many thousands
field
and over a loudspeaker.
troops,
the
to a large field." said
heard the word
Attention.
"In the corner of
ing an
came
my
eye.
could see two
American uniform, the other

closer.
men one
wear-
As they
a British uniform.
recognized them. The American was General
Eisenhower, the supreme Allied commander, and the other
was
Field Marshal
Montgomery. Both men stepped onto the
platform and spoke to the men. General Eisenhower said
were about
embark on
to
we
a great cause: 'the liberation of
Europe, and God be with you." Montgomery said almost the
same
thing, but
added
he was grateful
that
the troops, talking to them.
stopped in front of me.
supreme commander
And
s
help and
for the
then General Eisenhower
thought
to myself.
My
of all the Allied forces in
going to talk to me! The general asked where
how long was in the service."

On May 29. General Eisenhower moved
God, the
Europe
is
Joseph Blaylock served

20th Field
Division.
was from and
House near Portsmouth. The
was calm. The launching

crossing)
cross to
was
at
sifted
into
Southwick
were clear and the Channel
of Operation
Neptune
(the
Channel
hand. In one week, the great armada would
Normandy
But on June
skies
to
for the long-anticipated attack.
the
first
disquieting reports of bad weather
Supreme Headquarters,
forcing
Group Captain
Richard Staggs, head of the Meteorological Committee,
Eisenhower that the forecast

June 4 would be the
whether or not
to
for
June
critical
invade on June
4. 5,
and 6 was not good.
day of decision
5.
The
to alert
for
deciding
assault troops
would
already be loaded in their craft and ready to go. At 0400, Staggs
gave a troubling report. Even though the weather outside was
VOICES OF VALOR
39
Artillery of
in
the Army's
the 4th Infantry
Q"
While the Allied leadership decided
whether or not
operation
in
to
proceed with the
the early days of June, the
troops boarded their vessels ready to
deceivingly calm, he forecast deteriorating weather for D-Day

that
would
dred
feet.
yield force 5
winds and
Low cloud base of
five
hun-
proceed unless called back.
"That morning." said Eisenhower, "the stars were out and

beautiful
and he gave us the worst report you ever saw."
Eisenhower polled
most wanted
The
terrible
affect
to
his deputies.
few wanted
to go, but
postpone. The key factor was air operations.
weather would hinder the parachute drops and
bombing accuracy. This
led
to
other problems.
The
endangered paratroop drops would also jeopardize the landings

at
Utah. Without the paratroopers to control the narrow cause-
ways leading
40
off the beach, the
DOUGLAS BRISKLEY AND RONALD
J.
Germans could mass
DREZ
forces to
crush the 4th Division's attack across the beach. Eisenhower
decided
postpone
to
one day. D-Day was
for
EISENHOWER POLLED HIS
reset for June 6.
DEPUTIES.
The
was
great armada, already at sea,
troopers stood
mander and
down
The
would meet again
2130 that evening
at
for
an update.
already on the
"we could see what
water. "Finally, about daybreak," he said,
was going on and see we were under way along the coast
England and
in the English
of
Channel, headed roughly eastward
toward the rendezvous point with other groups coming from the
from Southampton and Portsmouth, and places
notified by a simple
message called
"Early in the afternoon of June
So,
4,
we
and headed back
Howard and
was
"Every morning
on.
at
be
Mike One.'
Tarrant Rushton,
Major John
tell
word
him.
camp," said Howard, "a dispatch
Harwell in Oxfordshire. He would
at
a one- word message, a code word,
The code word
On
meant we were going was
that
Sunday, June 4
and
immediately called the
officers together
started preparing to go that night.

after,
we
all
had
news
right
it
down
and
We had
got another message that
to give the deflating
was
because the weather was getting so bad
result,
and that code word
either 'you are not going tonight,' or 'you are going
'Cromwell.'
soon
to
on a motorbike came down from 6th Airborne Division
tonight.'
BOMBING ACCURACY.
the sixteen landing

said, 'Post
code word would
at transit
headquarters which was
me
DROPS AHD AFFECT
came alongside
his special glider-borne force waited for the
that the invasion
meant
HINDER THE PARACHUTE
our respective departure points."
to
At the British airfield
give
TERRIDLE WEATHER WOULD
turned around, hundreds and hundreds of ships of var-
all
ious sizes,
rider
POSTPONE. THE KEY FACTOR
Mike One.'
'Post
a picket boat
from which was commanding

and handed me a telegram that simply
535
craft
MOST WANTED TO
like that.
Should the weather make the landing unsafe, we were
LCT
GO, BUT
WAS AIR OPERATIONS. THE

LCT group was
Lieutenant Dean Stockwell's
east,
A FEW WANTED TO
para-
twenty-four hours. The supreme com-
for
his staff
called back.
a bit surprised
got 'Cromwell.'
told
them and we
our fatless meal, but
was canceled.
then had
the line again, and as a
a pretty rotten night."
At Portsmouth, Group Captain Staggs rushed toward
Southwick House
for the
2130 meeting that would determine
if
VOICES OF VALOR
\P&/-enresrir'
THE GREAT ARMADA,
ALREADY AT SEA, WAS
D-Day had
to
be postponed again. Alter having given the forecast
morning
that
had led Eisenhower
that
postpone, he had
to
spent the rest of the day poring over weather charts.
CALLED RACK. THE
PARATROOPERS STOOD
DOWN FOR TWENTY-FOUR
its
heels.
now
But that front was

this intensification
excited.
WOULD MEET AGAIN AT 2130
weather systems, and
dow
of
intensifying and strengthening, and
was slowing
COMMANDER AND HIS STAFF
gap might translate into
that
small win-
improved weather.
all
Staggs. Heated
conference
members
of the meteorological team agreed with
arguments lasted more than two hours.

during the day
later
Staggs arrived
at
room
conference
filled
second
did not produce a consensus.
still
Southwick
pouring rain horizontally into

the
forward progress. Staggs was
its
small gap seemed to he developing between the two
But not
FOR AH UPDATE.
the
evening, and then examined the depression that would follow
on
HOURS. THE SUPREME
THAT EVENING [JUNE 5]
He saw
edge of the front that would pass through Portsmouth that
as gale-force
tin;
winds drove the
window-panes. He entered
with
tenseness.
straightforward report with a stoic voice.
He began
He reported
his
that the
cloud conditions should be better and the winds not so strong

alter midnight.
than
The weather would be
Again Eisenhower polled
his Lieutenants,
"I'm quite positive the order must he given ...

there
it
is."
assemble and
the
first
sail to
it
finally said,
don't like
it,
but
the
was wrong.
last
If
Normandy. Eisenhower would attempt
a final
opportunity
since William
attack
meeting
to call the;
Eisenhower called
Launched again until June
it
for
0415 on June
armada back
back,
it
Would
the
if
5.
It
Staggs
could not be
recommended postponement
the outside weather had been relatively
now he was recommending

a raging storm.
the
19.
Staggs noted that he had
D-Day while
out into the English Channel
off in 1066.
Kisenhower ordered
hi;
roll
cross-channel
successful
Conqueror pulled
would
and
I
Operation Overlord slipped hack into gear. Within
hours the great armada would

to
more
tolerable, hut not
th.it.
of
calm and
launching the attack in the midst of
German
meteorologists also have seen
the glitch in the weather charts?
Would
DREZ
J.
the
Germans be ready?
ii
4A*H.
4'.?.
Although Winston Churchill grumbled
about holding up the invasion
At 0415 the weather was worse. Staggs entered the mess
room
at
Southwick
to
give his final report.
He noted
that
for
more landing
were grave and the room was

"The morning of the
silent.'*
5th,
Eisenhower. "The weather was
terrible.
The general gave him the
he
here," said General
This house was shaking."
signal to begin. Staggs stated
the obvious: that the conditions had not changed, but

there
was any change,
it
was
for the better.
He
felt that
if
the
storm would break before dawn, but that break would only
last
through Tuesday. The weather would deteriorate again
on Wednesday.
Eisenhower brightened and again polled his subordinates.
Again there was a mixed review, with most wanting
to
go and
only two officers voicing some reluctance.
VOICES OF VALOR
craft
would be indispensable
to the Allied invasion.
said.
came over
to wait
be produced,
Eisenhower insisted on the delay.
These
Eisenhower was spruced and immaculately dressed. "Faces
craft to
43
General Erwin
Rommel
(far left)
was responsible for German defenses

in Normandy. It was Rommel who had
obstacles and fortifications added
along this stretch of the coast.
He guessed
correctly that
"I
the timing of the attack.
it
was the
best of a bad bargain." said the general.
After a pause of half a minute, he issued his historic
"OK.
Normandy
could be a target, but misjudged on
thought
let's
command.
go!"
Across
the
channel,
the
German
meteorologist
Walter
Stoebe had forecast a period of disturbed weather during the

time of advantageous
moon and
tides. Like Staggs
he had seen
the weather charts, but unlike Staggs. he predicted no gap
between the fronts marching across the English Channel. With

that forecast. General
his
June
trip
back
Erwin Rommel decided

to
German consensus was

attack for another
Germany
proceed with
see Adolf Hitler.
The
that the Allies could not launch an
two weeks, when June 19 would
able conditions.
44
to
to
J.
DREZ
offer favor-
Near Colleville-sur-Mer on the Normandy Coast, Private

with the
Franz Gockel,
Regiment,
stood
position
his
at
Kompanie, 726 Infanterie
3rd
(Resistance Nest 62, abbreviated
man
position with two
recently
been
new casemates
completed
installed
fifteen
numbered 59
of these
twenty-
guns.
It
had
Rommel had
and found the
at
Colleville-sur-Mer
Almost half of
my
and
it
units
OF A RAGIHG STORM.
my
"I
had celebrated
my
position at Widerstandsnest 62.
METEOROLOGISTS ALSO
two NCOs, and sev-
HAVE SEEN THE GLITCH
was reported
[staff sergeant],
saying, 'Something's in the
of
WN 62
toward
WN 64,
from our position a
50mm
dummy gun
The weapons
75mm
mortar, two light
field
of
two
position with a long barrel
WN
62
guns, a
consisted
50mm
two
of
antitank gun,
machine guns, and two heavy Polish
machine guns. In addition, each man was equipped with
K98
his
carbine.
"During the evening hours, just
like so often before, a
debate raged in the bunker over the possibility of invasion.
With heated argument, one group was convinced
that the
English or Americans would never attempt to land here. The

other group could not be swayed from the opinion that within
no more than four weeks, the 'Tommys and Amis' would be

attempting to land on this beach. In accordance with orders,
we
slept in full uniform, only pulling our boots off
fully placing
rades,
'I
them next to the bunks.
and
said to one of
IN THE
WEATHER CHARTS?
air,'
that in southern England, strong troop
had been embarked. West
Czechoslovakian
WOULD THE GERMAN
comrades were also eighteen and nineteen.
The veterans were
erected.
CALM AND NOW HE WAS
THE ATTACK IH THE MIDST
were
machine-gun positions were added, and one hundred meters
was
HAD DEEN RELATIVELY
they
casemated positions
said Gockel.
an Oberfeldwebel
of May.
WHILE THE OUTSIDE WEATHER
RECOMMENDING LAUNCHING
enteen enlisted. The alert condition had been raised since the
end
POSTPONEMENT OF D DAY
Rommel had
to 74.
eighteenth birthday in
We had
75mm
six miles to the west,
was very young,"
"I
for
was
It
General
defenses lacking. Between the draws
and Vierville-sur-Mer,
62).
in February
after
Normandy Coast
inspected the
HE HAD RECOMMENDED
Widerstandsnest 62
at
WN
STA6GS NOTED THAT
care-
my com-
hope we don't have more of those damned exercise
alerts tonight.'"
VOICES OF VALOR
WOULD THE GERMAHS

RE READY?
Chapter
3
THE BATTLEFIELD ISOLATED:
HELP FROM THE RESISTAHCE
AHD THE SOE
As Eisenhower gave the order
were already
work
at
in
launch the invasion, other forces
to
an unending attempt
to isolate the battlefield
and prevent German reinforcements from moving
The
now
Allies
beaches.
paper
it
Up
faced the reality of actually setting foot on the invasion
was bold and
had been
it
the
plans and rehearsals, and on
daring. But the reality of the invasion
Normandy
German
if
main
the
attack failed.
If
7th, already at
The German armored
Disk
1,
main
to face the forces of
divisions could utilize the fields
Tracks 10-11:
in
OPPOSITE: Resistance
else-
was doomed. At
two combined German armies: the
and roads
Once
fighters
of the French countryside
the Allied attack began, the
and saboteurs
invaders by destroying or delaying
France
it
at Pas-de-Calais.
swiftly counterattack the invasion area.
Undercover work
make advances
to
attack failed, the invasion
Normandy, and the more powerful 15th
maneuver and
that
plan from most battle plans was that there was no alter-
the
Normandy, Eisenhower could expect
was
might.
There was no fallback position. There was no second chance
where
to
all
of the dice against the
What distinguished
nate.
now
until
was one throw
into the attack area.
rail
lines,
in
France aided Allied
thus hindering German
transport to the invasion area.
Dec. 7, 1941
Jan. 15, 1944
Pearl Harbor;
becomes supreme
June
4,
1944
June
5,
0015-0300
1944
Resistance
American
enlist-
ments increase
Allies
in
makes decision
France put on
to Droceed with
operatives
D-Day
alert
0530
invasion
JJ
z
^
in
Normandy
(British
beaches;
bomb
first
ground
to the east, then
troops land on an
island off Utah Beach
0630
H-Houron
Utah and
0700
U.S.
Army
0730-0745
0930-1330
1203
Hk^l
H-Hour on
Rangers
Gold, Sword,
Omaha
scale Pointe
Beaches
du Hoc
and Juno
Beaches
British
Troops
commandos
1300
1600
2400
^HP^PW^B
U.S. 4th Infantry
om
meet airborne
meets 101st
troops at Orne
Airborne at
Omah
bridges
Pouppeville
Bead
heads secured;
WHAT DISTINGUISHED THE
NORMANDY PLAN FROM
German High Command could
call
upon
reserve forces dis-
its
persed throughout the country to close on the battle area and thus
present the Allied attacking armies with an overwhelmingly supe-
MOST BATTLE PLANS
WAS THAT THERE WAS NO

ALTERNATE. THERE
WAS HO
rior force. If the
ELSEWHERE
IF
THE MAIH
and disorganized
and hurl
it
as
the Allied
struggled to
it
back into the
it
Eisenhower had conducted the bombing campaign

rail
CHANCE TO MAKE ADVANCES
feeble
still
gain a foothold, they could crush
FALLBACK POSITION.
THERE WAS HO SECOHD
Germans could counterattack while
landing force was
yards and rolling stock
in
to reinforce the battlefield
an
effort to
sea.
to target
hinder German ability
with these massive forces, and
in
attacking railway marshaling yards he had inflicted significant
damage on
the
German
move by
ability to
rail.
Almost
fifteen
hundred locomotives were damaged or destroyed during the
ATTACK
\
FAI
implementation of the Transportation Plan. Hut bombing also
Mo^tebourg\
had
its
shortcomings, especially
camouflaged
rail
when
targeting dispersed
"bombing railways was not

destroying them." said
British
method
a very satisfactory
of
who
agent Anthony Brooks,
worked with the French Resistance. "They were

repair
and
assets of the railway lines.
easy to
fairly
and cannoning them was pretty well useless. Hitting
them with
bomb was
very difficult
at
low altitude and usually
they had lightweight ack-ack which protected them and [made
them] an expensive
air force; target.
"Marshaling yards, which were good

near big towns, and therefore a
bombing
lot
operations. This didn't
targets,
of French
to
be
killed
by
tended
would be
mean they wouldn't bomb mar-
shaling yards, but that was a consideration."

In early 1944, the British secret
otage and intelligence

the
came under
Supreme Command. This
Operations Executive
had
the people
His succinct order was
the
been founded
who had been

to "set
for sab-
control of Eisenhower
office
Winston Churchill, who wanted
among
agency responsible
to
create
SOE
in
or
July
and
Special
1940 by
fighting spirit
overrun by the German forces.
Europe ablaze," and he envi-
sioned small groups of demolitionists, specially equipped and

trained, creating
ing force
was
havoc among the German
forces.
This harass-
also built to cooperate with Allied armies
ever an invasion came.
J.
DREZ
when-
The destruction of railways
was
France
in
occupied
a priority for the Allied
leaders. Here the U.S. 9th Air Force
bombs
railway targets
in
May 1944
as part of the Transportation Plan.
Although this bombing was successful,

it
was
often
more
effective to neutralize
targets from the ground. For this, the

Allies relied
saboteurs.
SOE
and the
headquarters was located on Baker Street in London,
office responsible for operations in France
was
called "F
commanded by Colonel Morris Buckmaster. He had

been one of the last men evacuated from Dunkirk in 1940 as the
German Army overran France.
"I was.
think, the last man out of Dunkirk because
hapSection."
pened
to
me.
won't matter
all
'It
have been bilingually French and
you've got to do
become
if
you
is to
get caught
take off your tunic
into
general said to
and your cap and
a Frenchman.'"
Because of his bilingual
SOE and
tion in
my
by the Germans because
eventually
talent,
Buckmaster was recruited
made commander
of the French sec-
September 1941.
He succeeded in eventually finding 480 agents, including

forty women. He ordered them to parachute into France and to
investigate
and
recruit suitable people
from within the French
Resistance for the job of sabotage. Arms, explosives, and equip-
ment could then be parachuted

"You had
to
choose people
they wouldn't be
in for their deadly work.
to
work
in a part of France
where
known from pre-war knowledge,"
Buckmaster. "They had
to
said
have a cover story which gave them
VOICES OF VALOR
49
on the SOE and French
"
and they had
a reason for being in that area,
so well they believed
woken up
in the
they answered
them
to
to learn their parts
be true themselves.
in the role of the
it
they were
If
middle of the night and were asked
a question.
person they were represent-
ing and not in their true personality."
SOE was added
As D-Day approached, the

Eisenhower's arsenal of weapons
ity to
maneuver and
were
"There
objectives
Buckmaster. "The primary
making the preparations
would be
there ever
only
by
.Dates
I
way
and
for
D-Day
General
invasion.
be
to
reached,"
said
directive
was
the important
D-Day.
to
hinder the German capac-
upcoming
react to the
two
to
We
didn't
know whether
we assumed
in 1943. but
that the
which the Germans could be vanquished would be
in
a landing
on the continent."
Vorreyiiie
Sabotage on the ground was

to
targets.
Poinre du
how
But
Eisenhower needed
just the tool
overcome the shortcomings of
aerial
bombardment
could orders be transmitted in
of railway
timely fashion to
Ho
dispersed cells of the Resistance?
ground forces the
m(i(]iiis.
The Frencb
called these under-
and although the maquisards were anx-
ious for battle against the Germans, coordinating a possible attack

to
be launched on an undetermined D-Day was impossible.

Controlling the maquis was in
itself difficult.
They were
not bands of romantic Frencb citizens in their jaunty berets

fighting
patriotism.
for
Communists and
groups
filled
Most maquisards were hard-core
Socialists
with the zeal of hatred
Germans. They carried out

with
and members of other splinter

for
the
occupying
their harassing attacks ruthlessly,
regard for innocent bystanders.
little
"The Communist Party spent
their time lobbing grenades
into cinemas, cafes, soldatenheim [barracks],
and mixed
cafes,"
said agent Brooks, "where there might be quite genuine French
people, resisters talking, and five or six
and laughing. They would
just lob a
window, possibly not even
kill a
Even
if
somehow
destroyed.
Germans drinking beer
grenade through the glass
German.
including the maquis in coordinated attacks were
possible by orders over the radio, security
sudden flood of radio
traffic
DOUGLAS BRIXKLEY AND ROXALDJ. DREZ
would be
issuing a mountain of
The Germans realized the

threat to their
orders to the far-flung maquis
would be
dead giveaway
monitoring Germans that the invasion was
The
to
at
Allied planners quickly realized that targets
would have
be prearranged and then triggered by a preset message
overall success
first
road
was
sites.
to
to attack
German
rail assets;
ensure
Vert
and Plan
SOE
targeted 571 rail-
Tortue.
Plan Tortue called for hit-and-run guerilla tactics on
bridges and highways and
German columns moving toward
the
invasion area. Both of these plans were to begin execution upon

receipt of
coded orders. Every unit of the Resistance would have
a specific job.
The orders
to the
be delivered via the
maquis and other clandestine units would
BBC
(British Broadcasting Corporation).
VOICES OF VALOR
aerial
and mounted
them, like the
cars,
guns to
one pictured here. But these
guns were not effective against
ground-based saboteurs.
antiaircraft
and not expose the Resistance.
Supreme Headquarters devised Plan

The
to the
hand.
rail
")'
Although this German Tiger tank
appears
to
be loaded on a giant
trailer,
these dangerous tanks of the 2nd
Panzer division, or Das Reich, were

usually transported on special
railcars,
flat
making them obvious
targets for the saboteurs.
SOE
war
prepared an enormous number of messages throughout the

for its fifty-nine radio
There were two messages

"alert"
operators and
for
each
unit,
all
the agents in the field.
and the
first
would he the
message. The second was the "action" message.
The
alert
message
the action message.

the alert message
told the recipients to listen
The individual
numerous
each night
for
or group leader might hear
times, but until he heard the action
message, he was to do nothing.
As
largest
it
turned out. the Germans had infiltrated one of the
SOE
units
The messages
and captured
for
this
its alert
infiltrated
cell
and action messages.

were from
"Chanson d'Automne," by the French poet Paul

alert
message was the poem's
violins of
that
line:
poem,
if
heart with a
monotonous
they heard the second
The
"The long sobs of the
autumn." The action message was the second
"Wound my
knew
first
Verlaine.
languor."
line, the
line:
The Germans
invasion would
occur within forty-eight hours.

But this compromised message had been scheduled for
replacement and would have become useless
52
J.
DREZ
to the
Germans
except for an administrative error. Instead of discarding this
message, someone reassigned
The Germans now had
cell).
it
key
would come. They only had
sion
"The messages
we used
that
related to the dates." said
another reseau (Resistance
to
days before the
full
THE TOOL EISENHOWER
to receive
by radio were not
Anthony Brooks. "They were
moon, and
related
listened, regardless, seven
that
when you
is
got your warn-
stoic,
almost disembodied voice droned the messages out
by the hundreds over the air and always repeated them twice.
They were nonsensical sentences, such

neck": or "The centipede
to all
is
for
clandestine saboteur in the
he could never
mammal." They were meaningless
Anthony Brooks, who worked
Montauban
area of France,
as a
was one
forget.
he said
tranquil.'"
bad habit
("Tetty. give that
who
eldest daughter of his local boss
laisse tic re
'Tetty,
a rest"). Tetty
ran a garage, and
she had long Edwardian ringlets of hair, and she was always
twirling them, and twisting them, and pulling on them, and
when
her mother could stand the distraction no more, she'd
smack the
girl
and order her
to stop
with those words. That
repeated exclamation stuck in everyone's mind.
thought there was no
way any
of his group
the mother's outbursts. So. "Tetty. laisse

their
In April the
German 2nd Panzer
to arrive in the
would ever
re tranquil"
Division, called
Montauban
area.
noticed that the large Tiger tanks were

special
flat railcars.
and were
forget
became
cial cars to
moved
on
sixty tons
one half mile per
Germans moved them by
an attack assembly
Reich,
into the area
The massive tanks weighed over
rail
on these spe-
area.
These cars were enormous, with

steel
Das
Brooks and his unit
real fuel guzzlers averaging only
gallon of fuel, so the
The
tic
Brooks
D-Day action message.
began
BOMBARDMENT OF RAILWAY
six big
bed of the car dipped low
HOW COULD
ORDERS BE TRANSMITTED
IN
A TIMELY FASHIOH TO
DISPERSED CELLS OF THE

RESISTANCE?
"The Montauban-area message was.
was the
SHORTCOMINGS OF AERIAL
"Flora has a red
as.
except the knowing individual.
The action message
NEEDED TO OVERCOME THE
TARGETS. BUT
ing messages on the BBC."
GROUND WAS JUST
the inva-
to listen.
moon, and one always
to the full
them when
to tell
SABOTAGE ON THE
wheels on either end.
to the tracks.
Two
flatcars
VOICES OF VALOR
General
Rommel
coastal battery
in
inspects a
March 1944.
with Tigers loaded on could not pass each other on adjacent
was
tracks since the overhang
too wide.
The Germans dispersed these
vital flatbeds
on tracks
around the French countryside and camouflaged them from

ial
all
aer-
observation. But in so doing, they raised the eyebrows of
Brooks and his saboteurs.
"We
realized that they
were obviously very
valuable, and secondly that the

is
why
them
it
Germans
and
that
they were dispersing them. Well of course by dispersing
made them
that
much more
vulnerable to us because,
while they were in the marshaling yard,

near them. So
5t
special, very
realized this
we
we
then set about organizing
J.
DREZ
couldn't really get

girls
and men and
We
wives.
spread the briefing around through school friends,
went often with
the famous Tetty and her boyfriend
we fitted them with a little

which had been hammered to fit the bolt."
them, and
later
The idea was

oil in
to
THE GERMANS DISPERSED
a lot of
THESE VITAL FLATBEDS ON
bent piping
bit of
TRACKS ALL AROUND THE

FRENCH COUNTRYSIDE AND
remove the bottom plug and drain out the
the bearing case and replace the plug.
The
had
oil
to
be
CAMOUFLAGED THEM FROM
carried off in a small container so as not to leave any evidence

of tampering. Then,
upon removing
would empty
the saboteur
AERIAL ORSERVATION. RUT
the top plug of the case,
IN
paper packet containing car-
borundum powder.
"The
THE EYEDROWS OF SROOKS
roller bearings
was not the best form

this to
to
about 70
to
D-Day" When
during the period up
75 percent of those
flats
a sabotaged flatcar
was loaded with
a Tiger
wheel
to seize
it
got the
didn't take long for the
warning message," said Brooks, "and then we
message on the night of the 4th of June and again
got the Teffy'
The concept was
5th.
was
roads. This
for
to
push the Germans onto the
two reasons. The Germans were, on the
whole, short of fuel and short on rubber
and
tires,
their tanks
and tracked vehicles had limited range. Also, the roads
in
France tended to be straight, out in the open country, and a con-
voy on
a straight road
When
was
a sitting
for
cannon
,'
\Courseu/tos?
fire."
Lioo>
tribute the explosives that he'd
cesspool, a
accumulated
via parachute drops
great personal risk until the
in sacks
duck
Brooks got his 'Tetty" message, he began
They had come
hundred pounds
to dis-
for over a year.
and had been hidden
at
man had
day of use.
If
of explosives could be
wrapped
and lowered down into the sewerage by rope with
the end held
up by
the malodorous
a little piece of
wood
and weapons
floating
in the fields
storing
ammunition
where she operated, and when her
D-Day message came, her group had
to retrieve
them. The plas-
explosives had been buried in sacks and the
been packed
on top of
muck.
Madame Yvonne Carmeau had been
tic
HIS SAROTEURS
"And we did
for the car to derail.
"We
on the
running dry with carborundum powder
of lubrication," said Brooks.
tank and began rolling,
up and
SO DOING, THEY RAISED
weapons had
in soft soap before burial to prevent corroding.
VOICES OF VALOR
sur-Mer
"Those were hidden under the beehives." she
would go and look

beekeeper along
for
them
disturb
to
there,
said.
we hoped. We had
"Nobody
to get the
them and the weapons were
all
brought out into the kitchen with the blackout on the windows,
and the whole family proceeded

soap
They were ready
off.
Distributing the
railcar
amounts
tons of explosives
Germans searched
the
was mostly
via
and hid
sig-
their lives
obscure places on their
in
all
for the next day."
many
where the French engineers risked
nificant
game
clean them and get
to
trains.
Although the
the trains, and sealed the drivers
the
in.
cat-and-mouse continued. Brooks"s sabotage unit had
of
managed
to
and most
of this
accumulate thirty-three tons of
was sent
to targeted sites
plastic explosives,
by
rail.
Perhaps the most obscure hiding place for explosives was a

musii ian's tuba. "One of our main organizers in Toulouse
a
was
tuba player," said Brooks, "and he was also secretary in the
group
theatrical
great character
and
he used
to
bring
in
the explosives in his tuba.
A considerable amount could

The musician bragged he could
in the cavity of the tuba.
fit
two
fit
British
Sten guns,
unassembled, into the big horn.

"It
was quite a
lot
wrapped around him

was
he had
that
He was
to
He would
music
cycle, his tuba
practice. His
argument
go out into the fields to play his bloody tuba.
wonderful man. absolutely mad. as mad as they come."
Prom thousands
resisters
of explosives.
as he rode, for
prepared
of caches
for
the
and from hundreds of
oncoming
battle.
cells, the
They would be
Eisenhower's force behind German lines to stop reinforcements
moving
to
Normandy.
Another behind-the-scenes operation was SAS. The Special

Air Service (SAS) provided continuing deception about where
the attack
would come. Captain Michael
brigade intelligence
R. D. Foot
was the
officer.
'About three weeks before D-Day,
got the order to
mount
four small operations which were to assist in helping the actual

detailed landing in
close to the fighting.
Normandy by providing deceptions

I
chose the code name
J.
DREZ
quite
for these off a list
had by me.
picked 'Titanic/ trusting that that would sound large
German."
to a
hoped the Germans would not draw any negative con-
Foot
clusions about the
word
and went
one of the regimental commanders
off to see
and
'Titanic'
four small parties to parachute into
would be used
parties
request
Foot explained that the
for deception, the
commander
said no.
commanders,
Foot tried one of the other regimental
who
to
Normandy simultaneous
When
with the main parachute drop.
connotation of disaster,
its
agreed to provide a force, but only two teams for the
D-Day
insertion.
"The task of the two
'Titanic' parties
was, in each case, to
simulate a major airborne landing. They were accompanied
by about
posed
dummy
hundred
five
parachutists,
on landing with
to self-destruct
which were sup-
a small explosion
and
[The two live parties] were armed with gramophone
a flash.
records of soldiers' conversation interspersed with small-
arms
fire,
tion.
And
and Veery
masses of Veery ammuni-
pistols with
they were to wander to and fro in the woods where
they went down, letting off their Veery pistols and simulating
major military
activity."
the diversions and sabotage carried
dummy parachutists were
The
Although the Germans were watchful,
moonlight, Rupert looked very
code-named "Rupert. "
much
In the
like a real paratrooper,
and
out by the SOE, the Resistance, and the
SAS made an important behind-thescenes impact on D-Day.
the accompanying soldiers of the SAS, firing their Veery pistols,
with flashes and pyrotechnics turned the jump area into a very
believable landing
On
June
1.
site.
the droning voice on the
BBC
broadcast the
of messages. Several times during the hour
long
lists
1:30
and 2:30 p.m.
it
recited,
autumn." The German High
between
"The long sobs of the violins of
Command
heard these
lines.
But
they had also heard them the previous month, and nothing
had happened.
Four days
ond
line:
later,
June
"Wound my
5,
the voice recited the long-awaited sec-
heart with a
cast the line fifteen times.
heard
it
and placed
Germany's 7th
his 15th
Army on
the
monotonous
languor."
It
broad-
German General Hans von Salmuth
Army at Pas-de-Calais on
Normandy
full alert.
But
coast did not react.
VOICES OF VALOR
57
DROPPING FROM
THE SKIES: THE BRITISH
ATTACK ON THE EAST FLANK
On
morning of June
the
as
5.
Eisenhower began
to visit
American
troops at the wharves, the British troopers led by Major John
Howard
repaired and straightened up their campsite at Tarrant Rushton after the
winds and rains from the previous
terrible
to
whisper his
Howard
fullv
night.
came bicycling down for his usual rendezvous with Major Howard
one-word order. The wind was still blowing hard, and the rain was falling.
The dispatch
rider
expected
to receive the
word
that
meant the invasion was not on. But the
dispatch riders word was again "Cromwell."
"We went through

said
Howard, "but we
one was made
to
ones, and
be censored after
left
we
Howard had been assigned

would be the
Disk
The
1,
it.
We
loaded up the gliders, and came back, and every-
to rest in the afternoon.
homes and loved

doubt
day rather apprehensively expecting another cancellation."
that
didn't get
first
Most of us spent the time writing
them with the military police
that
letters to
our
guarded the camp, no
left."
remarkable mission. His force of six gliders and 180
men
into France.
OPPOSITE: Shortly before
Tracks 12-16:
takeoff, British paratroopers receive
last-minute instruction. These paratroopers would rely on the
British glider invasion
success of the glider troops landing just ahead of them oh D-Day.
Jan. 15, 1944
Eisenhower
June
4,
1944
operatives
immander; planning
France put on
D-Dav
in
alert
5,
0015-0300
1944
rborne troops land
Eisenhower
Resistance
becomes supreme
intensifies
June
makes decision
to
in
Normandy (British
to the east, then
proceed with
~*
0630
0700
0730-0745
0930-1330
'
'
HHo7.ron
Utah and
us
rmy
HH
ron
Rangers
Gold, Sword,
Omaha
scale Pointe
Beaches
du Hoc
and Juno
Beaches
Troops
1203
""
1300
~~
== =5
The
idea for the daring attack began in the
general Richard Gale. Everyone irresistibly called
commanded
1944, Gale
of British
In
the British 6th Airborne Division at the
time General Eisenhower and his
Xormandy
for the invasion of
mind
him "Windy."
staff
were fleshing out the plans
crack Hitler's Western Wall of
to
Fortress Europe.
Eisenhower's plan was predominantly an amphibious

assault
would storm
that
Xormandy
invasion
five
beaches along the
and then break out
coast, get a foothold,
the French countryside. But the success of that plan
on getting the
to fight in
depended
initial foothold.
Eisenhower bad chosen the

route,
and
would
disintegrate
tins afforded
the L5th
if
obvious channel-crossing
less
him some
surprise. But that advantage
Army
reacted quickly and raced
its
forces to the west.
The Germans would then be

Eisenhower's vulnerable
British general Richard ("Windy")
Gale
conceived the bold plan to seize key
cally roll
up
smashing
to the
left
flank at
in
position
Sword Beach and
to
strike
systemati-
his entire force with continued flanking attacks
would become
assured as the
west along the

a
last
Normandy
nightmare of
domino
falling
coast.
The invasion
dominoes with
failure
fell.
bridges on the east flank to initiate the
Eisenhower gave General Gale the
airborne assault on Normandy.
task of preventing this
dreaded flanking attack. But Gale commanded paratroopers, not
armored and infantry divisions capable of withstanding a
German armored
thrust. Lightly
armed paratroopers were
likely to stop armor, but the paratroopers
least
were the only force
capable of getting into position before the amphibious assault.
Speed was the
vital
men would have
to
consideration.
Once
in,
these lightly
armed
hold until relieved.
General Gale formulated his plan. He would drop his division

cast of
Sword Beach, destroy
the bridges along the Dives River ten
miles farther to the east, and then set his forces in a semicircular
defense behind the Dives. From there he would await his
fate.
The
Dives would become his moat.
There was one major problem with

a
river ran
immediately adjacent
behind Gale's defense. These two
60
J.
to
this strategy.
parallel
DREZ
canal and
Sword Beach and directly

waterways were the
Caen Canal and the Orne
would be sandwiched
River. Gale's force
between the Dives and these two bodies of water, placing him
in
I6HTLY
ARMED
PARATROOPERS WERE LEAST
a vulnerable position.
If
the
the attacking
German
forces could destroy the bridges over
Orne River and the Caen Canal, the
would then be
would be
with
isolated, fighting
entire British airborne
back
its
to the water.
It
LIKELY TO STOP
ARMOR,
BUT THE PARATROOPERS
WERE THE OHLY FORCE
annihilated.
So General Gale conceived the idea of a
strike force that
would
CAPABLE OF GETTING IHTO
M^
land in gliders prior to the main parachute drop. The small force
POSITION BEFORE
would land with thunderclap
AMPHIBIOUS ASSAULT.
It
if
was
and
surprise,
two bridges,
seize the
Germans could destroy them.
intact, before the
and daring
a bold
not executed perfectly.
plan, a plan that
Still,
Gale thought
SPEED WAS THE VITAL
would
it
certainly
fail
had a reasonable
IN,
chance of success.
He reasoned
that the forces defending the bridges
might
tend to be somewhat lethargic after having occupied northern

France for four years. The Germans had been guarding
lots of
bridges against no opposition, and in fact had settled into an
occupation mentality. Gale
felt
that the initial
enthusiasm of
conquest might have turned into boredom as night
after night.
year after year, guards had reported for monotonous duty where
nothing ever happened.
A lightning strike
could possibly seize the bridges before the
defenders realized what was happening. Intelligence reports

indicated that the bridges were wired for demolition: but were
the detonation wires kept
ger the detonation?
would not
risk
And when
eral
hooked
Most
to the hellbox that
would
trig-
The bridge commander
likely not.
an accidental explosion.
the attack
would not blow
commenced,
the bridge at the
first
surely the
shot.
first try to
determine
for
anyone who
a knee-jerk reaction to
some minor
what was happening. There would be

blew the bridges because of
German guards
There would be sev-
minutes of indecision. The guards would

hell to
pay
armed disturbance.
Adding up
he had
five
all
CONSIDERATION. OHCE
of his suppositions, General Gale estimated that
minutes
to get to the bridges
the defenders could put
two and two
and disarm them before
together. If the attack took
VOICES OF VALOR
THESE LIGHTLY ARMED
MEN WOULD HAVE TO

HOLD UNTIL RELIEVED
THE PLAN WAS FOR THREE

GLIDERS UHDER HOWARD TO
LAND AND SEIZE THE

BRIDGE ON THE CAEN CANAL
(WHICH CAME TO DE CALLED
longer than five minutes. Gale assumed, the bridges
To lead a force that would have
THE REMAINING THREE
GUDERS ONDER CAPTAIN
HUNDRED YARDS AWAY.
to reinforce his four
duHoe
Company
toons from
platoons with two additional pla-
along with thirty sappers from the
B.
known
Royal Engineers. This force would forever after be
"Company
Many
cises
I).
Ox and
who
troops in the
elite
participated in the training exer-
watched as the Ox and Bucks men hurled themselves onto
barbed wire barricades so
them
as
Bucks."
Howard's force the most
called John
Army. One umpire
that those following
behind could use
as stepping-stones over the obstacle. Sergeant Tich
w.iti lied
-
his planners chose
Buckinghamshire Light Infantry Regiment. Howard was
British
THE ORNE RIVER FOUR
squeeze this successful
Major John Howard and his Company D, Oxfordshire and
FRIDAY WODLD SEIZE THE

PARALLEL BRIDGE OVER
to
window. Gale and
attack into a five-minute
allowed
"PEGASUS BRIDGE"] WHILE
would not be
seized intact.
one umpire shaking
his head, muttering,
"I
Raynor
pity the
bloody Germans: these buggers are mad!''
John Howard's second-in-command was
a GfQfMJc&nP'
dashingly good-
'
mviit-sur-M^
St Launnt-suf\
named
looking captain
gliders
under Howard
Canal (which came
Brian Friday.
to
to
Now
1
the day
toward and his
was
land and seize the bridge on the Caen
under Captain Priday would seize the
Orne River lour hundred yards away.
at
hand. The order had been given, and
men would
"Come nine
lead the force into France.
o'clock as had been planned," said
"we got into our troop-carrying vehicles, and the

to
be quite as bad as
it
had been, and there was
and God knows what, except the sky seemed

the time
we were
half-moon.
one went
We
to
for three
be called "Pegasus Bridge") while the
remaining three gliders

parallel bridge over the
The plan was
to
gel
into
the gliders,
were up by the gliders by ten
to
Howard.
wind seemed
rain in the
air,
be clearing. By
you could see

o'clock,
and every-
check equipment."
men and shook
their
hands and
gave a farewell slap on the back and exchanged their
"Ham and
Howard went
to
each of his
Jam" farewell.
"Those words were code words and they meant

to us in that transit
a terrible lot
camp," explained Howard. "They were the
J.
DREZ
words
success-signal code
for the capture of the bridges intact.
There were various code words

bridge, blown-up, or
"Ham and
both bridges.
Howard and
his
at all
it
was
it
the same
river
for the
was 'Ham.'
a goodwill
wish
for
Jam.'"
The words no one mentioned were

to seize
you captured the
if
for the canal bridge
And
for the river bridge, 'Jam.'
everyone
for
didn't capture
The success-signal
canal bridge.
and
you
the code
words
No one mentioned "Jack" and

men settled in on the canvas
the Horsa glider, after
for failure
"Lard."
sling seats in
making sure the towropes were properly
fastened to the Halifax bombers that
would tow them across
the channel.
my
then took
"I
"This was
Den
my
right
and
my
started onto the
glider
at
couldn't see them,

right
2256
knew
was opposite the
to the
cockpit and see Staff
We
pilot, quite clearly.
was due
runway with
on the dot
right
it
Howard.
was two other men and then
could look through
Sergeant Jim Wallwork, the

doors,
glider," said
Brotheridge's platoon.
opened door and on

the cockpit.
#1
seat in the
to take off at
Halifax
shut the
2256, and
bomber towing
it
and
was airborne, and although
that the rest of the five
were
it
in line
Behind Glider #1 the
towed
into the sky
was indeed
in line being
by other bombers. In Glider #2 was Lieutenant
Lieutenant
would hopefully land
bridge over the
Sandy
Smith's. These
in a position to attack the
Caen Canal.
Captain Brian Priday was in Glider
#4 with
Lieutenant Tony
Hooper's platoon, followed by Glider #5 with Tod Sweeney's,
and Glider #6 with Dennis

try to
Fox's.
These
last three gliders
would
land and seize the bridge over the Orne River.
"We w ere
r
Normandy
glider-borne assault.
rest of the force
David Wood's platoon, #3

three gliders
Major John Howard led the

troops into
behind us."
cut off from the rest of the world except for Jim
Wall work's ability to talk to the Halifax." said John Howard.
"Through the portholes we could see lots of other bombers, and

we knew they must have been going to bomb the invasion front.
We knew that we would be just over an hour in the air crossing
the Channel."
VOICES OF VALOR
63
in
first
a stealthy,
The
plan called for Howard's force to cross the
flight
French coastline
FIRST x SECOND
US
the seaside
at
town
of Cabourg. about ten
miles east of the bridges and the east edge of the invasion area.
Br.
Once
the
themselves
freed
gliders
bombers would continue on

city of
their
from their tows,
own
mission
to
bomb
the
Caen.
The bombing would provide

which would then
a diversion for the silent gliders.
stretch their glides in ever decreasing circles to
reach the bridges. Flying upwind, downwind, and crosswind
each
the
pilot
would navigate
and stopwatch. During the approach, he would

structure of the
legs,
landing area with only compass
to the
try to
Caen Canal bridge and then land by
pick out the

the light of
the half- moon.
The landing was

the pilots
,ind
had
fraught with danger. For
it
to
be successful.
bring their powerless machines to a halt intact
to
within a very short distance from the bridge. In the back of
each man's mind was the unthinkable: crashing and splintering.

killing all aboard.
And what about
the
Germans? Had they sown
the field with
"Rommel's Asparagus"? That's what everyone called the

Arromonches ^ lesBoms.
Arff-' <--3*e
phone poles
that
Rommel bad
ordered installed
to rip the
tele-
wings
and thus prevent airborne landings. These obstacles
off gliders
bad suddenly appeared in recent
been seen weeks before.
droned on
to the
All this
aerial
was
photos where they had not
in
John Howard's mind as he
French coast and his release point over the town
of Cabourg.
"At the last
minute
was wondering what the strength
ol
enemy would be when we pranged, because we had that

trouble about Rommel's poles, and I was worried about the
the
question of a machine gun pointing toward oik; glider wiping

us
all
out altogether in one
chance
to fight
back.
which we carried
also
fell
swoop before we could have
was concerned about
the glider and
in
the explosives
whether they would
explode on landing."
Staff Sergeants Jim
WaUwork and John Ainsworth were in the

pilot. As they approached
cockpit of Glider #1. Wallwork was the

the French coast, he
saw
the shoreline through the broken clouds.
J.
DREZ
Captain Brian Priday (center),
He had
the only radio
bomber
communication
in the glider to speak to the
was to lead the troops from

number 4, 5, and 6.
pilot.
"We had
John Howard's second-in-command,
just hit the coast of France,"
Wallwork
said,
"and the
tug pilot said. 'Weather's good, the clouds are at six thousand
a couple of minutes before
we
cast
off,
and we
all
feet.
wish you the
best of luck.'
"We
alter course, air speed's right.
John Ainsworth's with the
stopwatch; I'm checking the compass, he's checking the
We
cruise along
and then
air
speed.
5-4-3-2-1, bingo, right turn to starboard
onto course."
The
big glider
made
the ninety-degree turn to starboard, and
again Ainsworth started the stopwatch to begin timing the glide

for the
crosswind leg of the
flight.
But Wallwork did not complete
the crosswind leg.
VOICES OF VALOR
65
Gliders
VISIBILITY
WAS AWFULLY
excited pilot.
and
ver,
GOOD. SO THEN, TO HELL

WITH THE COURSE;
MY
HEIGHT;
FAR AWAY
KNEW
KNEW HOW
WAS, SO
IT
WAS
A CASE OF BY GUESS AND

BY GOD FROM THEN OH.
I
DIDN'T COMPLETE THE
down
"Halfway
COULD SEE THE BRIDGES;
then, to hell with the course:
away
I
was, so
it
was
LEG,
SO
BOWLED DOWN AND
it."
said the
sil-
was awfully good. So
visibility
height:
knew how
far
by guess and by God from then on.

so
leg.
bowled down and landed
rather quickly."
The men
in the glider felt the aircraft
lifted his feet off the floor
man linked arms with the man on

own hands in front of himself, and
since
it
most
likely
would
disintegrate.
look to his right and see Wallwork maneuver-
He could
ing the glider.
descending and went into
Each
their pre-landing routine.
either side of him. locked his
not see the landing area or anything but
working the controls.
the pilot
could see old Jim holding that bloody great machine and
"1
LANDED RATHER QUICKLY."
could see
knew my
a case of
complete the crosswind
didn't
leg.
could see the river and the canal-like strips of
"I
could see the bridges:
Howard could
CROSSWIHD
the crosswind
driving
the
in at
it
last
minute," said Howard.
"I
couldn't see his
GLIDER PILOT JIM WALLWORK
but
face,
damn
that
The
damn
could see those
forehead and
all
great footballs of sweat across his
over his lace, and
thing myself as
ideal landing
we came
speed
for the
felt for
him and was holding
in."
Horsa glider was 85 mph. but
Glider #1 was coming in hot. Wallwork
saw
the small triangular
and he could see the superstructure of the
held,
barbed wire, and he struggled
to get the glider
"There was a feeling of the land rushing

I
landed probably
at
and caught the

golly,
it
down.
It
dously.
[the
in the
take
and so
of wire
first bit
tail
and
said,
"and
at eighty-five,
like a lot.
hit the field
called 'Stream'
and by
and forced the nose
drew us back and knocked the speed down tremenIt
was only on
lor
tit
two seconds and,
"Jettison."
and
and jettisoned the parachute, and
we were going along only about sixty, which was ample to

me right into the corner. We got right into the corner of the
field,
the nose wheel had gone, the cockpit collapsed, and
Ainsworth and
head
dark looks
parachute] lifted the
Ainsworth pressed the

then
he
up,*'
about ninety-five instead of
and ten miles per hour
bridge,
down.
first
went
and landed
right
flat
through the cockpit.
on
my
stomach.
was Ainsworth."
DOUGLAS BRIN'KLEY AND RONALD
J.
DREZ
went over
was stunned,
as
El
Major John Howard (leaning against the
Howard had been

what remained
tossed about.
He picked himself up from
of the floor of the glider.
The
front of the glider
telescoped and the door was nowhere to be seen, and
suddenly realized that he could not

"But
banged
down
Howard
head, and
when
my eyes, was
I
the relief of
tremendous.
knowing
realized
able to lever
that
it
it
from where
my
My watch had stopped at 0016,
we
The nose
thing.
There
it
came
had
see clearly,
and then the
was, about
and
head badly was

exhil-
fifty
was
yards away
were."
of the glider
was through the barbed
troopers silently gathered for the attack.

tion leaders
(standing) flew together
Wallwork piloted
was only the helmet
up and
hadn't hit
aration of seeing the tower of the bridge in that moonlight
an extraordinary
plane) and Staff Sergeant Jim Wallwork
see.
was, in a semiconscious sort of way, aware that
my
over
had
form up their units
at the
wire,
and the
Howard watched
the sec-
slope leading to the bridge.
Lieutenant Brotheridge was in charge, giving Corporal Jack Bailey
whispered instructions.
VOICES OF VALOR
67
in
hard and
in
Glider #1.
this lead glider,

fast.
which
"When we
me. Corporal
we streamed
Den Brotheridge whispered
got out of the glider.
We
tralize the pillbox.
And we moved, and
chaps moving.'
Bailey, get those
The
across the road.
was
task of our section
neu-
to
scrambled across and the ironwork of the
We went
bridge stood out like a great black silhouette.
and used two
the pillbox
to
"36 grenades.' Wally Parr
straight to
and myself,
which we put through the apertures, and there was
a terrific
explosion."
had overcome
Parr
his
and attacked with
fright
initial
Corpora] Bailey.
ran up the incline onto the bridge and looked. For
"I
son.
looked
just
up
dried
everything, and
at
my mouth
roof of
and
of all saliva.
my
tongue was stuck
couldn't spit six-pence.
couldn't tree
it
and
some
rea-
to the
My mouth
finally shouted.
had
"Come
out and tight, you square-headed bastards."
As Lieutenant Brotheridge
led the attack, Cliders
#2 and #3
arrived in the small field. Staff Sergeant Oliver Boland piloted #2.
As he wrestled the
land a
little
and
my
nose, and
Wallwork's
to
right,
we
then, literally, crash-landed.
otherwise
I'd
So
had landed
#3
my
to
so and. Basil/
right,
And
which was the
to stop."
down
frantically tried to put
to
had
dropped on the ground with an almighty crash,
a little
space for #3
right
have run up his bum, and
last foot or
and we crashed along and managed

Glider
to
could as the bridges came into
see another bloke coining in from
third glider.
he was going
Suddenly there was gunfire
low.
used the spoilers and dropped the
then
that
was now quite
in front of
down, he mild see
stretched the glide as far as
"I
view,
keep
glider
short of his target.
safely.
#2
Glider
short in the small field, greatly reducing the
put down. Lieutenant Sandy Smith was the
platoon commander.
saw the bridge as
"I
great big sweep,
ground, the
what
hit the
over
swamp, and
ground, and
glider
was
there
knew we were
became airborne
and came around
come
a very large
DREZ
in a
close to the
down.' Then
in trouble."
again.
J.
it
started to
pilot said. "You'd better sit
call a slop
The
we passed
as we
and then
we
hit this,
bounce
as
we
"There were several seconds between that

then the most amazing, appalling crash.
past these two pilots;
first
bounce and
went shooting
straight
shot out like a bullet and landed in front of
the glider."
The
had
glider
small pond in the
hit
field.
with such force that
One
of the
it
broke in half by a
men was thrown
and pinned underwater by one of the wings. Glider #3
came
to rest
pond
into the
finally
between #1 and #2, narrowly missing destroying
two-thirds of the landing force.

"I
I
my
staggered to
feet," said
Smith.
"I lost
my
Sten gun, and
more
staggered by instinct toward the bridge, followed by not
than a half a dozen people. The rest were trapped in the
one of
my
chaps, Higgs,
was drowned
in
it
the
glider,
doctor
and
was
knocked unconscious."
Smidi arrived
had launched
just a
few minutes
their attack.
after the troops
from Glider #1
Already they had secured die bridge and
driven off the defenders. But not without cost. Smith remembers:
"Seconds
Brotheridge
is
later
someone came up
dead,
sir.'"
to
me and
said,
'Mr.
his
command
post on the other
side across the road from the gliders.
Knowing
the canal bridge
Major John Howard had
was now
in his hands,
set
up
he turned toward the river bridge
just four
wondered what the
river bridge," said
bridge, so
but
didn't
Howard.
was happening over on the
Harry Woodthorpe.
could see no firing on the river
knew that they didn't have to

even know if they had arrived
fight for the bridge,
there because
kept
asking the radio operator, Tappenden, was there anything
from the
river,
from [Glider]
4. 5, or 6,
and the answer was,
And it was at that junction that Jock Neilson

came up to me and said, 'There are no explosives under the
bridge, John.' We eventually found them in a shed farther
down past the pillbox.
'No, no, no.'
"Just
then Corporal Tappenden picked up a message from #6.
Nothing from 4 or
5,
but
#6
Dennis Fox. His message was that
they'd captured the bridge without firing a shot. Well that
tremendous news
first
the bridges. The third
devil
"I
(left)
was
to get."
VOICES OF VALOR
and Wally
Parr (center) landed with Glider #i
and were among the
hundred yards down the road.

"I
Corporal Jack Bailey
69
to charge
man
pictured
is
#6 had made
Glider
smooth
belly to a
stop. Lieutenant
in just trying to get
Dennis Fox's
its
problem came
first
out of the glider.
could not open the door
"I
on
a perfect landing, skidding along
money," said Fox.
for the love of
pulled and pulled and pulled, and good old Sergeant Wagger
Thornton came up from the

ward,
sir.'
and then up
Fox led the way
denly
rei
"It
ba< k
lifted
it
and
and we jumped
eived a burst of automatic
was
Schmizzer
[a
dml be put
for-
out.''
Eire.
German mat bine
Thornton from way back had gotten from

tar going,
it
toward the bridge and sud-
ross the field
a<
said. Toil just pull
mortar slap
gun], and dear old
bis position a
mor-
gun
a fabu-
later troopers
from #6
down on
that
lous shot."
Fbx had the bridge, and
arrived under Lieutenant
moments
Tod Sweeney,
who
charged across the
opposite end toward Dennis Fbx.
went racing over with these chaps
"I
beside me." said Sweeney, "and
were
learly British figures.
rather disappointedly
we'd
when we
We ame
and.
to a halt,
<
been
thumping along
all
got to the far side there
must
and then
worked up
all
say,
was
the unmistakable figure of Dennis Fox."
Both bridges had been taken

worked. The
to
)\
General Gale's plan had

in France.
Now
they had
hold on.
"We w ere
Jam' radio
able immediately to start sending out our
call,"
He
there
and Jam,
was only
Ham
got so frustrated that

lain.
The
on
as
'Ham and
he might. Corporal
his wireless.
and Jam!" He paused
for
an answer, but
silence on the airwaves.
"For a solid hour
and
raise a soul
try
transmitted over and over. "Hello. Four Dog: Hello. Four
Ham
Dog,
Howard. But
said
Tappenden could not
lay
on
that road." said
said. 'Hello.
Tappenden.
"I
finally
Four Dog: Hello, Four Dog. Horn
Hani and Bloody Jam. why don't you answer me?'"

first
Germans
to
approach Howard's position came from
the east toward the river bridge,
intact.
and Bucks had a toehold
small patrol and.
later,
unaware
a speeding
bridge, both easily dispatched
of the British presence.
Mercedes came across the
by Company D.
J.
DREZ
But
two tanks approached the T-junction
at 2 a.m.,
hundred
BOTH BRIDGES HAD BEEN
yards west of the canal bridge.
"We could
five
TAKEN INTACT. GENERAL
them moving
see
very, very slowly
about twenty-
yards apart," said Howard, "obviously not knowing what
when
expect
they got
down
them were the PIATs
had
to stop
was
a spring-fired
had
a very high trajectory."
The only weapons
to the bridges.
weapon and
[Projector Infantry Anti-Tank].

fired a
it
Sergeant Wagger Thornton from the
bomb
#6
about a foot long.
GALES PLAN HAD WORKED.
to
THE OX AND BOCKS HAD A
It
TOEHOLD
IN FRANCE.
NOW
It
THEY HAD TO HOLD ON.
platoon was chosen to
be the gunner.
"The tanks were making

ture the bridge,
way down
their
and Howard asked Fox
denly found myself entrusted with the PLAT.
me, to be a number two, and
off
we
probably
to recaplies
he had a PLAT and
if
sud-
St.
Morcouf
les
Dunes
took a chap with
Now a
went.
PIAT
is
a load of
rubbish
really. First,
you're a dead loss
if
you have
go even
to
you
yards,
and second you must
had
because by the time you reload the thing and cock
it
never, never, miss.
If
Vamville
fifty
do, you've
which
it,
Pointe du
is
a chore
on
its
own, everything
is
Hoe
gone. You're indoctrinated into
your brain that you mustn't miss. So,
lay
down with
this other
'Grandcamp-les Boins^%^
VitrviDe-sur-
guy about
thirty yards
ing like a bloody
leaf.
from the T-junction of the road.
ing,
it
bang, and off
than see
it
it.
and
had
jubilant.
could have kicked his force

operation.
retreat.
#4 had
move back
I
said to
bit.
which he
off the bridge
cle, finally
pilot
or three
did."
and jeopardized the
not
lost. It
that
entire
the second tank beat a hasty
not landed. One-sixth of his force
own. The
was so
Thornton had destroyed the tank
Once the first tank exploded,
#4 was
Two
my number two to give
But Howard's jubilation was tempered by the
In fact. Glider
its
later, all hell let loose.
to
a few bursts from the Sten,
Howard was
went. The thing exploded right bang in the
guys jumped out of the thing, and
them
away, and
rattling
took an aim, and although shak-
middle, and a couple of minutes

excited and shaking,
was shak-
Sure enough, in about three minutes this
bloody thing appears, the old wheels were

could more hear
fact that Glider
was presumed
was very much
had become disoriented and flew
lost.
in a fight of
in a great cir-
spotting a silver stream of water reflected in the light of
the half-moon.
VOICES OF VALOR
St Lourent-sui
OPPOSITE: The successful seizure of

the bridge over the Caen Canal
(Pegasus Bridge), and the nearby
bridge over the Orne River, had
established the toehold necessary for
the British airborne to secure the area.
Shown
here on June
7,
Allied troops
visible in the
his
approach and
on the
left
bank
down smooth
set the glider
"We had
of the river.
as
a very comfortable.
landing in the water on the riverbank." said Lance Corporal
soft
"We
Felix Clive.
bridge,
got out
and were only
fifty
yards from the
and Captain Friday led the way."
roll
across Pegasus Bridge, the wreckage of
two gliders
He made
velvet
background.
"We rushed
"and
we
He
ran away.
left
his helmet
The bridge was
men had
Lance Sergeant Tich Raynor.
the bridge." said
took the bridge. There
was
German
sentry there and he
on the parapet of the bridge and
secured, but
was the wrong
it
ran."
bridge. Priday's
seized a bridge along the Dives River about ten miles
from the objective bridges. Lieutenant Hooper immediately went
down
off tow.ird the right,
Captain Friday
area.
the road in the direction of the invasion
so that half
split his force
were on each end
on the Dives.
of their bridge
Hut shortly.
one shot
hit
instantly.
And
German
fire
came from Hooper's
the wireless operator in the head, killing

then, from the
same
direction.
and
direction
him
Raynor and Friday
could see dark figures approaching. The troopers flattened
themselves into the grass on the shoulder of the embankment.

In the
moonlight, they could make out the familiar figure of
Lieutenant Hooper. But he was not walking confidently.

his boots tied
be marched
around
in front of a
pistol trained
hands were over
his neck, his
German
soldier
who had
He had
and
his head,
his automatic
on Hooper's back.
Raynor was on one side of the road and Friday was on the
other.
When Hooper and
the
German were only
ten yards from
them, they shouted out together, "Jump, Tony!"

I
looper jumped into the ditch
away from
jumped, Raynor and Priday opened
fire.
zine. Several of the others also fired,
As he
fell,
case in
half,
in a
in his death grip.
The
map
and one
it
bullet tore into Sergeant Raynor's arm.
territory to
work
his
started his
way
to
72
to greet a surprised
J.
men
in the early
and happy John Howard.
DREZ
off
Major Howard.
Escaping and evading enemy forces, he finally arrived
hours of June 7
maga-
loud burp. The spray of bullets cut Priday's
The following morning Captain Priday

across enemy-held
a full
and the German went down.
he pulled the trigger and held
automatic fired
the German, and as he
Each emptied
Chapter
5
OVER THE ATLANTIC WALL: THE
AMERICAN AIRBORNE DROP

ON THE COTEHTIN PENINSULA
Ox
Shortly after the Halifax bombers took off with John Howard's
and Bucks. 822 C-47 Dakota
aircraft
loaded their paratroopers
tered airfields in southern England. At
at scat-
Greenham Common, Membury,

more
Merryfield, North Witham, Uppottery, Exeter, and Aldermaston,
than thirteen thousand overloaded paratroopers with blackened faces
pushed and pulled and tugged and shoved each other and
their
bulging packs into the cramped spaces of the aircraft that would ferry
them
to the
French countryside.
Some
paratroopers carried loads over
150 pounds.
Each planeload was called
a "stick," consisting of sixteen to twenty-three
in sling seats along either side of the C-47.
length of the fuselage,
on
was the
static line.
icing inboard,
When
it
static line.
Disk
1,
Then
sal
back
to
jump, the
to front,
pilot
and snap
would turn
their
rings
the order to check equipment and "Count off!"
Tracks 17-21:
OPPOSITE: Paratroopers
The U.S. Airborne invasion
Jan. 15, 1944
men. The]
and overhead, running down the
came time
a red light, signaling the troopers to stand in the aisle,
onto the
Dec. 7, 1941
1.
of the
82nd Airborne
Division drop from
C-47S during training exercises.
June
4,
1944
June
5,
0015-0300
1944
troops land
IrAtr.Ur.iir.]
operatives
in
makes decision
in
Normandy (British
east, then
:
to the west)
ÊltE
beaches;
first
gro
troops land on
||
1
stand off Utah Be

-
ij
j...^
w
*
W*-'
It*
0730-0745
i-Hour on
U.S.
Army
0930-1330
H-Hour on
Utah and
Rangers
Gold, Sword,
Omaha
scale Pointe
Beaches
du Hoc
and Juno
Beaches
advance
commandos
U.S. 4th Infantry
Tanks move
meet airborne
troops at Orne
meets 101st
inland from
Airborne at
Omaha
liberation
bridges
Pouppeville
Beach
underway
British
inland
Five beach-
heads secured
From the
rear of the aircraft, the last
man would
shout out.
would proceed forward
"Sixteen. OK." and the count
to
num-
ber one. All that remained was for the light to turn from red to
and the troopers would plunge out
green,
into the night air
over Normandy.
The
would
exiting paratroopers
shuffle
and hip-hop
ward, staying pressed tightly to one another so as

tight unit to
avoid scattering upon landing.
men would
close
up the
"rolling
man
upon
the center
maneuver
in a
would have assembled, ready
"There would be twenty
to exit in a
the ground, the

called
within a short time, a sLxteen-
stick." Hopefully,
fighting force
man
On
for-
'serials,' fifteen
Lieutenant Carl Cartledge. "The
first
to fight.
miles apart." said
would be the 101st
ten
Airborne Division, the second would be the 82nd Airborne,

13.400 paratroopers in
and
all.
in
an armada three hundred
miles long, nine planes wide. Hying in three Ys and at altitudes
An Airborne trooper boards

en route to Normandy.
his plane
from seven thousand
down
chuting
to five
into France
hundred
We would
feet.
from 12:30 a.m.
drop zones, each one mile long and
a half
be para-
to 2:30 a.m.
on
six
mile wide."
Greenham Commons, paratrooper Ken Cordry stood
At
in
formation while General Eisenhower visited them.
"We assembled
in
formation while General Eisenhower
walked through the ranks, talking with many of the men. He

talked to troopers like me. but
really
felt,
after hearing
wasn't one of the lucky ones.
him. that he was really concerned about
our safety and our chances of surviving the invasion drop."
commander with
Elvy Roberts, an assistant platoon

101st.
boarded his plane. His group
they had
to
all
the
pretty cocky. Although
been drafted into the army they had
all
volunteered
be paratroopers.
"We
in the
started taxiing out
door looking
at this
around 10:30.
leader,
it
was something
Thev had painted the
we were going
stripes
that
stripes
that night
remember standing
tremendous armada of airplanes.
was tremendously impressive.
76
felt
was very proud
we had
on the
trained
airplanes.
when we saw
on them."
DOUGLAS BRIXKLEY AND RONALD
J.
DREZ
to
It
be a platoon
and worked
for.
We knew where
the planes with the
\s
ft
Paratroopers of the 101st Airborne
Division took on intimidating visages,
giving each other
mohawk
haircuts
painting their faces. Seen here
photo captured from

preparations.
The black and white

stripes,"
stripes
tive
and
on
all
their
aircraft
became known
as "invasion
had suddenly appeared with these
wings and fuselages. They would ensure posiof an Allied
identification
stripes
stripes
airplane.
Anything without
was the enemy.
In the darkness of the June 5 night, the great sky train roared
down
the runways for the assault on the western flank of the
invasion area. Like the British airborne on the eastern flank, the
American airborne was
to
provide flank security on the west,
especially security for the four narrow causeways that led from
Utah Beach across flooded lowland. The objective of the 101st

Airborne was the town of Carentan and
82nd was
to
its
surroundings. The
secure the critical town of Sainte-Mere-Eglise.
Through these two towns, most of the major roads passed.

At
this
exact
time,
the
German
Oberbefehlshaber West (OB West), and 15th
Command,
High
Army
each
inter-
cepted coded messages that announced that the invasion would
occur within forty-eight hours. The 15th Army,
immediately put
its
troops on the highest
in charge of forces at
Normandy, took no
alert.
action.
would approach Normandy while German
at Pas-de-Calais,
But
Army Group
The
forces
B.
giant sky train
were sleeping.
VOICES OF VALOR
77
is
and
a rare film of the
On June
5,
1944, General Eisenhower
"The
visited with the paratroopers of the
101st Airborne Division just before they
boarded
their planes.
or
flight in
was uneventful."
two who had gotten
we
back
to the east.
got started.
"As the air

the
My
We
tired:
most
slept.
It
was some
quieted
singing,
down soon
did a course straight south and then cut
armada approached the peninsula from west
Germans put up
"I
was standing
tremendous volume of
in the
platoon leader's plane
progressed farther, the
78
airsick. At first there
and then everyone was

after
said Roberts, "except for one
door and
was
lost.
20mm and
J.
to east,
antiaircraft fire.
could see planes being
That's the
the
way
it
was. As
hit.
we
40mm antiaircraft became
DREZ
rv
more and more
intense.
Sherman Oyler was

ing
members
reflected
on
had
"I
his
the
On
in his plane carry-
the flight over the channel he
PARATROOPERS STARED ODT
talk
is
"When he came
with me," said Oyler.
your name,
soldier?' Well,
remember my name, and
drew
up,
a blank
kept saying to myself,
my name? What is my name? What is my name?' Finally
'What
is
of the guys hollered, 'Well,
tell
him your name,
Oyler!"
Then he asked me what my hometown was, and when
said,
'Wellington, Kansas,' he said, 'Oh, that's south of Wichita.'"
Eisenhower then gave
eraman snapped the
Now Oyler was

feet
As
down
his
famous thumbs-up
and
picture,
in the
seven hundred
its
just as a
cam-
said, "Go, Kansas."
number one
his plane started

to
position on his C-47 over
descent from fifteen hundred
jump, the
feet for the
vibrating from one end to the other.
The German
aircraft
fire
was
was every-
where, and then the C-47 entered a cloud bank which
made
it
almost impossible to see the drop zones.

"After
what seemed an
eternity," said Oyler, "the red light
flashed on inside the plane. Everyone stood up and hooked up.

I
helped get the door bundles ready
troopers
was
trooper had
The
air
hit in the rear
him drop
push
to
by pieces of
his pants
out,
and
"It
when one
of the
and a medic and
flak,
and they dressed
his
wounds."
over the drop zones was thick with flak and antiair-
craft fire. All the paratroopers stared out of
flashes
windows
to see the
tracers.
sounds
aircraft," said
like rocks in a tin
can
when
the bullets hit the
Lieutenant Carl Cartledge of the 501st PIR, 101st
Airborne. "No one had to

for the first time.
The
tell
us what
it
light of the tracers
was when we heard

was
it
partially blinding
the pilots."
"I
was looking over the shoulders
said Leland Baker.
and the
light
THICK WITH FLAK AND

ANTIAIRCRAFT FIRE. ALL THE
General Eisenhower, and had no
to see
some
France.
THE AIR OVER THE
unique conversation with General Eisenhower.
would
couldn't
water hose
DROP ZONES WAS
number one man
PIR.
like a
of tracers."
wanted
he asked me, 'What

I
could see the streams
502nd
of the
just
idea that he
and
coming up and the stream
of fire
"I
of the
was about halfway
turned green.
We
all filed
men in front of me,"
to the
end
of the stick,
out the door.
My
chute
VOICES OF VALOR
OF WINDOWS TO SEE THE
FLASHES AND TRACERS.
The paratroopers piled

Dakota
into the C-47
aircraft in "sticks" of sixteen
to twenty-three
men. Some troopers
carried over 150 pounds.
jerked
me
so hard that
reared back and looked up to see
blown any panels. When

went through
my
Parachutes
called
filled the air
jumped
lirst
over the Cotentin Peninsula as the
82nd descended toward
gazed into the
the "night of the
it
The
a string of tracers that
canopy."
troopers from the 101st and

startled French
was
did. there
if I'd
tour
men
into the night
air at
earth.
the strange sight.
The
Many
mushrooms."
little
in the aircraft
then there
with Leonard Griffing
was trouble
for the rest of
the stick.
"When
it
was time
to
stand up and hook up," said Griffing,
"most of us were so airsick that jumping out seemed

able thing to do. At least
"I
five,
80
was
and
it
was
a reason-
better than staying.
pretty far forward in the stick,
maybe number
four or
could see out the doorway. The sky was lighted up
J.
DREZ
with tracers.
ter
remember seeing one
mile get hit and explode, just a big ball of flame.

"As
stood there with
ready to push out,
under the
I
of the transports off a quar-
couldn't
on.
The
left
seemed
hands on the edge of the doorway

that
rest of the stick tried to
"The
it
we
took some kind of a burst
wing, because the plane went in a sharp
push myself out because
they either
rolling
it
my
fell
or almost
hang on
uphill, so
could push myself out,
way As
me
did,
went out before me was
and
was
My
was
in the
behind
had no idea what
and
hung
cable, but
it
and
to
started
where
The guy
And by
that
the time
away from me
chute popped open and
was landing
trees,
in
was the only
on.
It
it
was so dark
that
could have been grass,
could have been water. Also, what was
me and what seemed to be coming down on top of was four

blasts that could see following me all the way down."
I
muzzle
The problems
Night flying,
flak,
maneuvering
was
flak
roll
just
sky.
might have been
below
roll
air.
us.
a half-mile
"The moon had gone behind the cloud, and

I
jump
to the
soon as he got
a half-mile
got out, he
the other direction.
fell.
back the other
parachute in the
was
ahold of the ship, stopped the
pilot got
the guy behind
it
facing the troop carrier pilots were enormous.
cloud banks, and the sheer numbers of planes
in the air
made
for a
Sidney M. Ulan was a

paratroopers into
filled
summer
harrowing experience. The
with red and green tracers," said
Lieutenant Sidney Ulan of the 99th Troop Carrier Squadron

(TCS), "and searchlights
me. The saliva in
beamed up
at
the planes just ahead of
my mouth completely dried up from the fright."
Lieutenant Roger Airgood was a veteran troop carrier aviator.
But despite
all his training,
the
Normandy
night drop
was overwhelming.
"Although
we
experienced
many
night formations with
paratroopers in the States and in England, the plan for getting
Normandy was the most comwe had ever faced," he said.

"Everything was working fine as scheduled until we got to
last light boat [in the English Channel], at which time we
the troops to the drop zones in
plex and ambitious mission
the
VOICES OF VALOR
the 99th
Normandy on D-Day.
was taken in the
This picture of him
terrifying.
"The sky was
pilot in
Troop Carrier Squadron, which dropped
81
of 1944.
This photo
shows some members
of
the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment,

101st Airborne Division, with the
camouflaged parachutes they

would use in Normandy.
were
amber down
to turn off the
lights
power.
half
to
Colonel] Kreyssler's
Hays,
lighl
the
down
turned
left,
and reduce the formation

Hying on [Lieutenant
pilot
the formation lights so
low they were not visible. Hays could see nothing of Kreyssler's
wingman from
the
left seat,
so
flew from the right seat since
could see the exhaust stack glow and the phantom outline of the
plane.
We
maintained the course, and when coming out of
cloud bank,
The
was
see tracers
coming up from main
arched over us as
we
angles.
flew under them. There
tremendous racket such as experienced when
through
to
we could
lines of tracers
hail.
four-minute red warning
Assuming
were on course and

"There seemed
light,
to cut
this to
DZ A
had
got a glimpse of a steeple of a
off to the right
about a quar-
be Sainte-Mere-Eglise.
felt
we
[Drop Zone A] lay straight ahead.
be a delay in slowing
When
speed of 110 mph.
Wingmen had
that
to
in sight. Shortly after getting the
church about a hall-mile ahead and

ter of a mile.
flying
had very few glimpses of the ground since
keep the outline of the plane
down
Kreyssler did slow down,
power and hold the nose up
it
to the
was
to
jump
too
fast.
keep from
overrunning the lead planes, which in turn was followed by a

blast of
was
power
that
mph and
terrific
82
to
keep the plane from stalling out. The net result
when we
pulling a
prop
blast,
got the green light,

lot
of power.
which was the
J.
we were
flying about 105
The paratroopers went

last
thing
DREZ
we wanted
to
out in a
happen."
common
Lieutenant Airgood's experience was
822 C-47s. What was worse was the
train of
took evasive action, the troopers were standing in
the aircraft.
The
rolling
them around
tossed
on the para-
effect
As planes sped up and slowed
troopers inside the aircraft.
down and
in the sky
weaving and staggering

flashed on,
and pitching knocked them down and
much
so
like
When
in the aisles.
some men were
They were
loose cargo.
the green light
some
struggling to their feet;
still
in the front of the plane had jumped, while the remainder
were delayed because of someone down on the
floor.
By the
time the rest exited, there was major scattering that translated
to
wide dispersion on the ground.
man
James Eads was the sixteenth
had been
hit at the
and the troopers

had equipment
worst time by both flak and machine-gun
"We were
said Eads.
fire,"
My
it
last
picking up
start
Dwayne Burns
some delay
trouble. After
opening shock was
"We
man
got heavier as
came on
man
we
light
flak,
is
come
The ship
at
first."
"We crossed
The noise
all sides.
yelling, 'Let's go!'

is
rig,
I,
But
bouncing
light.
Now
the
awesome. The roar
Dwayne T. Burns jumped into

Normandy with the 508th Parachute
Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne
Private
Division.
wings and fuselage, and
still
like
is
said Private
the coastline and
stood waiting for the green
from
everyone
trying to fix his
go out, bailed out on a dead
to
of the engines, the flak hitting the
on.
light
terrific."
of the 508th PIR.
ship's being hit
The green
off target.
started out of the plane, but the fifteenth
being the sixteenth and

run.
"Our C-47
in his plane.
the green light does not
something gone wild.
can
hear a ticking sound as machine-gun rounds walk across the

wings.
It's
getting up;
there
hard
to
some
down and
training we had,
stand up, and troopers are falling

are getting sick.
was not anything
Of
all
the
that prepared us for this."
Perhaps the worst experience was Sergeant Dan Furlong's.
"You could see the shells coming up," he
Roman
candles.
We
were
the plane that got killed and four

"I
was
assistant
were eighteen of us
jump
master,
in the plane
were probably numbers
said.
hit three times.
four, five,
"They looked
like
There were three in
wounded.
who
always jumps
and the guys
and
six.
The
that
first
last.
There
were
killed
shell hit the
VOICES OF VALOR
83
wing.
It
took about three feet off of the
tip.
alongside the door and took the light panel
through the floor and
and then
blew
it
hit the ceiling
and exploded
much
"There was so
a hole about
The next one
two
feet across the floor
in the plane.
all
The
pilot
was
"When
and
floor,
telling us to
Team
Leader, Regimental Intelligence and
there'
fell in
Reconnaissance Section
were
static lines
(S2), 501st
Airborne Division. He
just before
boarding
is
in the plane.
The chutes from
Normandy.
Then
them
out.
but
dove, head
On
was
jump.
to
knew
the
tell
lying on the
got to the door.
You bad
through
to get
the guys
all this to
who were
down hooked up and
killed
partially pulled
me how
dove out the door. Don't ask
get
were
got out.
first!''
American paratroopers began
their
war
in
never finding anyone: oth-
teamed up with buddies or with troopers they did not
Some found themselves neck-deep
know.
for
pilot
wounded guy
Some stumbled around
the dark.
ers
the ground.
shown here
for
him
telling
already hooked up. and there were
to the door.
Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st
was
the hole in the floor before
chutes open
jump, because the
went out there was
opened because they

Lieutenant Carl Cartledge was #1
come on and
Lines
static:
lieutenant
were gone anyway.
Lights
and
The
over inside that airplane.
waiting for the lights to
know
confusion in there you didn't
what was going on. because there was smoke, and

and parachutes
hit right
The next one went
off.
in water, struggling
of their drop zones in
their lives as they landed out
flooded areas.
Tom
"I
Porcella of the
plunged into water.
were running
get free of
my
My
a mile a
chute?
82nd Airborne made

heart
was pounding and my thoughts
minute. 'How deep
Am
watery landing.
this
is
water? Can
too heavy? Will the weight keep
me
on the bottom?'
"The water was
was gasping
for
rapidly that
don't
let
"I
and
and
it
84.
it
as
remove the
soon as
I
would
in this
wouldn't unsnap.
around.
above
my
another breath of
thought
me drown
tried to
just
my
nose.
air.
and
burst.
damn
stood on
my
heart
and
was beating so
water in the middle of nowhere.'
leg straps, but they
head was above water
started to pray standing on
J.
toes
pleaded, 'Oh, God. Please
needed some more
my
DREZ
my
were
air.
I
so
just too tight

I
jumped up
began splashing
toes with
my
head
Copde kiHogue
Audervilte)
my heart was beating faster.
barely above water;
onds,
calmed down and decided
'"God,
my
only chance
is
was
knife
jumped up
for
be
water and slipped
it
back and forth
an upward motion. Nothing happened.
in a panic.
came up
was going
heart
but
knew
that
think. Think!
As
in
between the
Why can't
with
fright.
realized
working
scream
to
my knife
is
my
help
for
told myself,
must
'I
It
seemed
plane #44. In the moon-
he could see the silvery reflection of water.
"There was water everywhere below," he

small strip that
to the water.
could
see,
and
was
said, "except just a
drifting dangerously close
my thumbs into the saddle of the chute and

my leg straps, preparing for a
was working on my chest straps when my shoe
pushed
down and
quickly unbuckled
water landing.
caught a small tree and
smashed
into
marshy ground."
Cartledge tried to get out of his chute and then
toward the center of the drop line
to
make
move
contact with the rest
of the stick.
"I
got out of
my
John Fordik," he
chute with
my
said, "then to
and moved forward
to
Smith who was struggling
to
knife
walk, and Bravo joined us along the way.
forward until
edge as
it
we reached
the
number
In
thirteen
helped Smith on
man
at
It
was obvious
men of plane #44 had drowned."

Company F of the 505th PIR, the red
to
light
us the
came
Hip-hopping forward, the entire
stick
jumped
zone. Sergeant John Ray, the platoon sergeant,

to exit the aircraft.
The
objective of the
first
and
on,
first
man
for their
drop
soon turned green. Lieutenant Harold Cadish was the

out.
the river's
turned inward into a wide expanse of water. There
was no sound from the water.

twelve
We
AWESOME. THE ROAR OF
THE ENGINES, THE FLAK

HITTING THE WINGS
AND
FUSELAGE,
YELLING,
AND EVERYONE
LET'S GO!'
IS
BUT
STILL THE GREEN LIGHT
DOES NOT COME ON"
razor sharp?'
had the blade upside down."
down from
IS
it
was
thought
kept on saying Hail Marys.
Carl Cartledge drifted
sat
strap,
and
air
wanted
cut the strap,
for air,
an eternity before
light
and the
another breath of
for
to burst
leg
would make matters worse.
was gasping
in
my
Yes,
and then went below the
air,
SIDES. THE NOISE
there.'
removed the knife from the
more
"THE SHIPS BEING HIT
FROM ALL
let it
my right boot.
felt for
there. I'm lucky.
still
to cut the straps.
the knife. Please
Going down into the water again,
sheath, and
After a few sec-
was the
last
one
82nd Airborne was
to
VOICES OF VALOR
PRIVATE DWAYNE BURNS
ON THE GROUND, AMERICAN

.';Mi;liIi]^;fcl:la^':iriT7r
town
seize the crossroads
were
of Sainte-Mere-Eglise.
down
But this stick was not coming
WAR
kill
IN THE
DARK. SOME
:1liiI:i;Tiil
il
FINDING ANYONE; OTHERS
TEAMED UP WITH BUDDIES
OR TROOPERS THEY DID
were coming down
THEIR LIVES AS THEY
was well
area
by
lit
on
a building
formed by the townspeople trying
The Germans were
was
the
the
at
a bucket brigade
to extinguish
also there,
and
it.
across the square, and
fire
the descending troopers could see there
it.
in the bright light
from
the drifting parachutes of the Americans were illumi-
fire,
The Frenchmen
Germans swung
in the
bucket brigade stared upward, and
weapons
their
into action
and began
firing
the descending shapes.

Private ken Russell looked around
LANDED OUT OF THEIR DROP
ZONES IN FLOODED AREAS.
town square and the enormous
see the
shape of the nine-hundred-year-old church towering above
The
nated.
WATER, STRUGGLING FOR
northwest. They
to the
on top of the town, and each of the men
right
down and
could look
HOT KNOW. SOME FOUND

THEMSELVES HECK DEEP IH
The drop zones
northwest of the town.
to the
crowd below. Russell had
him and then
the
at
turned seventeen, having been a
just
fraudulent enlistee for the past two years.

"I
was
just a boy,
school rather than
going
to school.
in
seventeen.
think
should have been
strange country.
my
was graduating
class
we had
Sainte-Mere-Eglise was the area that
came
there
in.
was
miles around, and
jumped.
we came
knew we wen;
because most of our

Russell floated
stick,
sti<
Germans were waiting
the
didn't
fire.
and
even
telephone poles
first
for
like
men were
fire
and as we
gave
was so
light for
we
fire,
horrifying,
in
the middle of the
touching down. But the
them.
hit the
ground." said Russell. "They
Lieutenant
they were crucified there.
Gammon
to take,
killed."
Gadish.
Laddie Tlapa landed on telephone poles
was
it
high
that night.
and when we saw the
in,
in trouble,
were
The
down. He had been
and already the
"They
on
a building
in
should have been
H.
down
Bryant,
the street, and
Coming down, one
grenade on his hip. and
hit
and
looked to
my
right,
and
the guy.
just
an empty parachute coming down. He was blown away."
looked around and there was
saw
and instantaneously,
it
fellow had
Troopers John Blanchard and John Blankenship landed in

trees across
from the church and the town square. Dead on
J.
DREZ
hung
landing. Blankenship
Blanchard
lifelessly in his harness.
frantically cut through his risers to free himself
and drop
to the
ground. Such was his excitement that he cut off one of his
gers, not realizing
down
the
it
until morning.
into the brightly
square.
lit
The
fin-
rest of the stick floated
One man
sailed directly into
fire.
finally hit the roof of the
"I
and
church
said Russell, "and
first,"
my suspension lines went around the church steeple
a couple of
slid off the roof.
John Steele had come
was hanging on the edge
down and
of the roof,
and
his chute covered the steeple."
Trooper Steele had no hope of getting down. He was snagged
and tangled high up on the
Ken Russell was
Private
belfry,
almost
fifty feet off
He hung
in better shape.
the ground.
at the full
extent
of his lines, his heels twenty feet from the hard surface of the
square. But he
still
had
before he could even

"I
was on
on the
steeple,
to cut
try,
and Sergeant
church.
Steele
street
He was
town
fall.
But
German guard saw him.
the right side of the church,
edge of the church, but he
on the next
himself free and endure the
[John]
and Steele was hung up
Ray came down and missed the
hit in front of
A Nazi
it.
soldier, billeted
behind the church, came around from behind the
a red-haired
and myself, who were
German
still
soldier,
hanging
and he came
there.
to shoot
As he came around,
he shot Ray in the stomach, and John, being a sergeant, had been
armed with
his .45 out
us,
a .45 pistol,
and when
and Ray, while he was dying
this
German
he shot him in the back of the head and

Russell freed himself
and ran out
his wits, the teenager heard the
guns blazing away
in agony, got
soldier started turning
around
of town, alone. Gathering
sound of one of the German
at the low-flying aircraft
grenade distance. He tossed his
to
killed him."
and crawled
Gammon
destroyed the gun. Of his stick of sixteen
to
flak
within
grenade in and
men who had
jumped,
Private
Dwayne Burns stands on
the beach with a large collection of
only six survived the disastrous drop on the town.
Toward
Airborne found himself alone and extremely
"While looking
at the rear of a
scene
equipment.
early morning, Private John Fitzgerald of the 101st
for
water to
fill
nearby farmhouse.
came upon was one
that has
thirsty.
my canteen, spotted a well

On my way to the well, the
never left my memory. It wâs
I
VOICES OF VALOR
87
"ON MY WAY TO THE WELL,

THE SCENE
CAME OPON
a picture story of the death of

a
graphic heritage for
made
hole and
WAS ONE THAT HAS NEVER

LEFT
MY MEMORY.
IT
WAS A
PICTURE STORY OF THE
his personal
it
was only three
The other
its fist.
AIRBORNE TROOPER. HE LEFT
A GRAPHIC HERITAGE FOR

ALL TO SEE. HE HAD
on
Martin
HIS
him.
fell,
looked
hoping someday
in
testimony
still
clips. Cartridge cases littered the

in
two,
his
at
wrote the name
closest to
dog
down
its
splinters adding to
many
others that night.
The name read
tags.
in a
small prayer book
would meet someone who knew
never did."
regiments came
casualties
LAY THE RODIES OF NINE
Hersh.
M-l
of
fought alone, and. like

I
The body
where they
The parachute regiments were
PERSONAL ALAMO. IN A HALF

CIRCLE AROUND THE HOLE
V.
carried,
soldiers.
left
fox-
around the
His ammunition bandoliers were
was broken
stock
he had died alone.
IT
rifle
He had
the debris.
OCCUPIED A GERMAN
FOXHOLE AND MADE
empty
German
In a half circle
distorted forms lay
his shoulders,
ground. His
Alamo.
He
trooper.
away, a potato masher clutched
feet
to the ferocity of the fight.
DEATH OF ONE 82ND
He had occupied
German
hole lay the bodies of nine

the hole
one 82nd Airborne
all to see.
not
The American
on their heels, but experienced
in
at
in.
glider
terrible
the hands of the Germans, but because of
the obstacles of the hedgerows thai surrounded the small farm

fields of the countryside.
MMMTE JOHN FITBEMLD
"We ould hear

i
sounds
the sounds of planes in the distance, then no
at all." said Fitzgerald.
swishing noises. Adding
to the
"This was followed by a series of

swelling crescendo of sounds were
the tearing of branches and trees followed by loud crashes

intermittent screams.
after the other,
field
from
and landed
into nearby
The
all
in the
gliders
were coming
different directions.
in rapidly,
Many
and
one
overshot the
surrounding woods, while others crashed
farmhouses and stone walls. The gliders had been
loaded with heavy guns, radios, and other arms too large to drop
down and secured to plywho had only canvas and
by parachute. The cargo was strapped
wood
lighl
floors
wood
chaos.
between the
to protect
glider troops
them.
the field
Equipment broke away and catapulted
plowing up huge mounds of

all
moment,
In a
along the length of the
it
hit the
ground,
Bodies and bundles were throwm
dirt.
field.
as
was complete
Some
of the glider troopers were
impaled by the splintering wood of the
fragile
machines."
Because of terrible dispersion and crashed gliders, the

Airborne was fighting in small bands. The unintended conse-
J.
DREZ
The paratroopers were able
to
secure
the town of Sainte-Mere-Eglise and the
paths leading to Utah Beach. Here Fred
members
shown after
Patheiger (driving) and other

of the 101st Airborne are
the battle.
quence was the confusion of the Germans as
to the size of the
fighting force.
Company
of the 505th
Regiment of the 82nd Airborne,
most successful drops of the
of the
had over one hundred men on the march
"When
First
was
in
didn't
jumped
in Sicily
were kind of
saw
the door.
Eglise,'
at
maps and
farmhouse, and
little
pointed to
before
we
in the
group
were [huddled] around
trying to orient themselves.
flag
and
said, 'Sainte-Mere-
took the town just after 4 a.m.
gotten
Bill Tucker,
more
and Guts Krause'; he was the guy
left
combat jump,
said, 'That way!'"
commander should have
called 'Blood
was," said veteran
"The people
"The town was taken." said Sergeant

battalion
his third
went over there and knocked on
my American
and the Frenchman
Company
Italy.
scattered. People
under ponchos looking

I
and
one
to Sainte-Mere-Eglise.
know where
Howard Melvin. This was
Sergeant
his having
I
landed
in
entire airborne force, quickly
had held up the
flag
and
"and the
credit.
that in
He was
England
said, 'This is the flag that
flew over Gela in Sicily, and Salerno, and tomorrow morning

will be at the mayor's office
Mere-Eglise,'
and
it
did
The roads leading
and
it
will
be flying over Sainte-
fly."
to
Utah Beach were now blocked
to
the Germans.
VOICES OF VALOR
89
Chapte
6
CROSSING THE CHANNEL:
THE AIR AND SEA ARMADAS
The months preceding
air forces. First, the
against
German
the invasion had not been idle for the Allied
bombers had been conducting unrelenting
and second, more
oil assets,
their attacks to
German
rolling stock as
recently, they
air
had
war
shifted
demanded by Eisenhower's
Transportation Plan.
These massive
extracted a fearful
air attacks did not

toll.
come without
cost.
German
More than two thousand planes were
flak
lost
and
fighter planes
with their crews, and
men were killed, wounded, or captured.

These air forces would now shift to a third mission, one to which they were not accustomed.
They were now called upon to provide tactical and close air support for the invading army.
twelve thousand
The
in the
dictates of the Deception Flan precluded massive
days before the invasion.
On
June
3,
more than
hombing
half the
of the
Normandy beaches
bombing runs were
directed
over Calais, and on the following day most of the missions were flown over insignificant
gets.
The
tar-
pilots called these "milk runs."
But on D-Day, the
air forces
beginning with bombardment
were scheduled
to fly a staggering fourteen
of the invasion area
and then
thousand missions.
shifting to areas of possible
enemy
buildup and targets of opportunity.
- -
Disk
1,
OPPOSITE:
Tracks 22-25:
Crossing the Channel

by
air
and by sea
Jan. 15, 1944
>ecomes supreme
Allied invasion ships fire at Luftwaffe planes in the night
sky off the Cotentin Peninsula.
In
the
left
foreground
is
a sinking
Allied ship.
June
4,
1944
operatives
France pu
D-Day
al
in
June
5,
0015-0300
1944
makes decision
in
Normandy
(British
east, then
c
to the west)
0730-0745
H-Houron
Utah and
Rangers
Gold, Sword,
Omaha
scale Pointe
Beaches
du Hoc
and Juno
Beaches
0930-1330
ch-
advance
meet airborne
trooDS at Orne
meets 101st
inland from
heads secured;
Airborne at
Omaha
liberation
inland
ouppeville
Beach
nder way
The 9th
Marauders
Air Force
like this
assigned 360 B-26
one
to
conduct the
bombing runs on Utah Beach.
Roger Lovelace was with the 386th
been training since

Doolittle to be
took
him out
1942.
He had
of
that historic mission.
Now
a car
wreck
he trained
for a
on his sixtieth mission,
excess of the original twenty-five needed for rotation
tar in
k k lo
the States.
During the days Leading up
and from
tryside
to
June
as Lovelace flew to
6,
down
his missions, he could look
English coun-
at tin;
and see the massive buildup. Fields were
equipment
that
in
Jimmy
with
trained
one of the Tokyo Raiders before
second historic day. He was closing
I),
Bomb Group and had
of war. There
was not
the banks
filled
were
was hardly one
with tanks, trucks, and
tied off five
and
"By the afternoon of June
5,
field or
one
artillery.
full of
the
rural road
Boats against
six wide.
there were crews painting the
black and white invasion stripes on every one of our aircraft. We,
as enlisted
men, weren't
whal seemed
full
told anything, but
bomb with
like a live
we'd
just sit there
the fuse sizzling,
on
knowing
well that something was going to happen within hours."
Lieutenant Alfred H. Corry flew a B-26 Marauder for the
387th
Bomb
sleep.
The
'Come
Group.
"I
officer of the
was awakened
on, get up, Corry
and started waking the
at 2
a.m. from a sound
day came running, shook me, and
time
to get up.'
rest of the
So we went around
guys up. 'We're going
breakfast in half an hour, then briefing thirty minutes
92
J.
DREZ
said,
to
have
later.'"
The
briefing
who had
command
of the
pilots,
cocked back on his head and a short, stubby
mouth.
cigar in his
"He
was conducted by one
his hat
'Hey guys, good morning, good morning, good
said,
we are. This is the big day we've been waitwhat we all came here for.' He hadn't said a word
morning! Well, here

ing
for.
That's
^^Jf
yet about a mission, but finally he said, 'We're going to France

at
0600 as
Normandy
The
support for the Allied forces invading the
air
coast of Europe.'"
briefing
excitement
rooms
all
over southern England buzzed with
one by one, the aircrews learned about the inva-
as,
sion and their missions.
Lieutenant John Robinson flew with the 344th
"On March
was
over.
1944,
6,
By the end
Robinson
had
of
my
May had
I
top every day," he said.
"We
men get killed every day
attack
It
Bomb Group.
sortie.
The
training
flown thirty-one missions."
an infantryman
felt like
going over the top of a trench into
our
combat
first
World War
in
enemy
fire.
always
the
We
and
and are attacked.
was our
"We go over
job to prepare the
kill
ground
Lieutenant Alfred H. Corry,
to the best of
stay ashore,
our ability
and
craft
gunners
On
falling.
life
for
kill
We
also
whole bunch
whom we
the airfields
enable the infantry to get ashore, to
and win.
fight,
were about, they'd
to
hoped
of those
6, it
was dark and
Crews climbed aboard and thousands
flight
Marauders
to
a steady rain
of planes
came
to
plan for the aerial attack was for the B-26
go in low, as low as five hundred feet
feet.
was
takeoff.
The heavier bombers, the B-17s, would go

thousand
recalled an abrupt
if
necessary.
in high at twenty
combination of twelve hundred B-17s and
B-24s of the U.S. 8th Air Force would strike the British invasion
sector
and the area around Omaha Beach, while 360 B-26s from
9th Air Force
would
The massive
bombing
air
strike the defenses of
armada faced
any
Utah Beach.
a critical obstacle to the
air
support mission, the ideal
way
to
bomb, while friendly troops
are approaching the battle
site,
is
to conduct the
of the beaches. In
bombing runs
Bomb
parallel to the invading
VOICES OF VALOR
93
who
6.
flew
Group,
awakening
on the morning of June

antiair-
had no love and no pity"
on June
with roaring engines and taxied for
The
that while they
damned
a B-26 for the 387th
-rue
dew
33 7 8<^d
The 556th Squad of the 387th Bomb

Group was stationed in England from
June 1943 to July 1944. Lieutenant
force
to
eliminate
Normandy
this
the
was not
chance of bombs
possible.
The
falling
great air train
on
At
it.
would
fly
Alfred H. Corry (top right in picture)
labeled this picture.
from southern England over the English Channel directly

French coast, drop their bombs, and
fly
"Under no circumstances were we
to the
home.
to turn
Lieutenanl William Moriarty of the 387th
Bomb
around," said
Group.
"If
you
had mechanical trouble and could not keep up, drop out of the
formation but continue
to follow the traffic."
The aircraft would make their approaches directly over the

Landing craft
first
now churning toward
the beaches carrying the
waves. Because of the danger of dropping short bombs on
friendly troops, 8th Air Force ordered a delay of several seconds
94
J.
DREZ
^P
from the bomb-release point. General Eisenhower concurred

with this decision.
While
The
lessly in the
thirteen thousand
Omaha Beach
sailed over the
better.
He
equipped with
Brown
the results were
bombs dropped by 329 B-24s
target area
French countryside, as
Flight Officer John
much
was understandable,
that decision
predictable.
of the
and exploded harmmiles inland.
far as three
RAF
(Royal Air Force) fared
flew a Typhoon Fighter, a low-wing monoplane
powerful twenty-four-cylinder, 2200-horse-
power engine. The Typhoon carried two five-hundred-pound
20mm
bombs, was armed with four

duct strafing
"On
all
previous trips across the Channel,
above the water
fifty feet
cannons, and could con-
and dive-bombing missions.
said, "but
on
thousand
feet,
dive-bombing
"We flew
to
avoid detection by
this day, for the first time,
the height from
we had flown
enemy
radar,"
we climbed
which we normally
at
he
to eight
started our
attack.
parallel to the
neared the beachhead,
Cherbourg peninsula, and as we
we saw
the most
memorable
sight of the
First
Lieutenant John H. Robinson flew
with the 344th
war: a line of most of the leading Allied capital ships, bat-
tlewagons, cruisers, and destroyers, lobbing shells onto their
shore and inland targets.
running from Caen
to
We
proceeded inland, and on a road
Bayeux,
we
spotted eight
"We turned on our gun and bomb

which we used
tor sight
leader's
and followed him down
we
to
command, we went
tanks.
aim our guns and bombs. At the

into echelon starboard formation
he peeled
as
German
switches, and our reflec-
off.
At four thousand
feet,
pressed the button on the throttle, which released the
bombs, and pulled out of the dive.

attacked the tanks, firing our
First
Lieutenant
on gun positions
men
that
at
morning
J.
K.
cannon
at
We
then individually
them from
Havener copiloted
B-26
all
angles."
for his attack
Utah. His colonel, Ben Witty, had briefed his

that this
"Split-second precision
should be a milk run.
was
to
be the key to the success of the
operation," said Havener, "and our group
was
one minutes before the troops were scheduled
"We turned west
to
bomb
to hit the
just
twenty-
beachhead.
to the IP [Initial Point (of entry)].
Off to the
VOICES OF VALOR
95
Bomb
Group.
right are the flashes of
heavy
guns have opened up on
guns
flak
and the
us.
light flak of tracers
incendiaries and explosive shells light up the sky.

terrifying,
would look
it
The German
firing at us.
If
and
wasn't so
it
just like a fireworks display, hut
I'd
never before been on the receiving end of the largest Fourth of

July celebration of
time."
all
Havener's B-26 continued on the
bomb run
as the
German
became murderous.
antiaircraft fire
"A ship in our
box takes
first
does
a flak hit.
complete snap
hut recovers and continues on in formation. Unbelievable!
roll,
Now
we're on the
run and another of our ships takes a
blows up. and goes down.
direcl hit.
'milk
bomb
Damn Ben
Witty and his
run'!''
Sixty-seven of the 360 aircraft attacking Utah Beach failed

to release their
bombs. Havener's
was not one of them.
aircraft
"Our targets were gun positions on the

First
Lieutenant
J.
K.
Havener bombed
areas near Utah Beach on D-Day as

part of the 497th
Bomb
beachhead
in
above the
the eastern side of the Cherbourg peninsula near
Barfleur at Saint Martin-de-Yarrex ille."
Squadron, 344th
"After
Group. This picture of him
was taken
at
cliffs
December 1944.
an eternity we dropped the bombs
at
0609 and con-
centrated on getting the hell out of there on a westward course

across the Cherbourg peninsula."
Lieutenant Allen Stephens
"We went through

I
made
his run in against the flak.
the heaviest concentration ol antiaircraft
had yet seen. Tracers and
were so thick
flak explosions
looked impossible to gel through without being
knowing
that for every tracer there
barrage Literally filled the air

sions
made
The
air attack at
bardment
all
the air alive with
Omaha
at
were
around
six other rounds.

us,
and the
it
The
flak explo-
Utah was more successful than the bomBeach. The B-26s led the way.
every airman on his

far
that
Especially
fire."
Meanwhile, the great sea armada
toward the
hit.
fire
way
targets
to
that
in
had so impressed
Normandy churned
shore and the anchorage twenty-two thousand
yards offshore.
But where were the German
Germans, who
know
96
it
was
at
air
forces
and navy? The
had long anticipated this day, did not actually

hand. There had been no
J.
DREZ
air
reconnaissance
during the
first five
decided
cancel patrols and a mine-laying operation sched-
to
days of June, and naval commanders had
uled for that night due to bad weather
massive
Allied
Incredibly,
now moved
fleet
what was
the very weather the
left
through
German
of the
undetected.
radar system failed to
pick up either the air train or the sea armada.

After having been recalled by Eisenhower's decision to
postpone the invasion on June
had
5,
minesweepers that
rolled out into the sea led by 255
swept ten lanes leading
armada again
the great sea
the five invasion beaches
to
Normandy. Behind the minesweepers came the slowest

in the
armada,
LCT
Flotilla 12
in
vessels
thirty-six LCTs carrying the DD
(duplex drive) amphibious tanks to land in the
waves
first
to
provide armored support for the infantry.
commanded a group of sixteen of

Omaha Beach carrying tanks of the 741st
Lieutenant Dean Rockwell

the vessels headed for
and 743rd Tank

LCTs headed
for
Battalions.
second
group of twelve
flotilla
Utah Beach with tanks of the 70th
avoid mix-ups, large, white letters
'O'
and
Battalion. To
were painted on
'U'
the respective craft.
"There were
see,
literally
coming together
hundreds of ships,
as far as the eve
can
Lieutenant William
B-26
in
mankind's greatest assembly of
a naval mission of landing a force of military
on
craft for
a heavilv
guarded enemy shore," said Rockwell.

In the confusion of the
hundreds of ships
English Channel, Rockwell lost one of his
"One
teen: the
to find
on
its
of
my
LCT
him and
craft.
landing craft was missing
713.
I
one
my
of
six-
spent a good part of the forenoon trying
LCT 713 with
finally located the
a big 'O'
conning tower, cruising blithely along where
other ships had great big 'U's on them.

told the captain to look
When
all
came
the
along-
around and see where he was.
side,
'Oh',
he said." Rockwell guided the wayward
'O'
sailing into the
craft
back
to the
group.
"Just looking
around
after
we
set sail
extraordinary melange or mess
Anthony Duke, the captain
of
LST
was the most confusing,
of ships,"
530.
said
"They were
Lieutenant
all
moving
in
VOICES OF VALOR
97
pilot for
J.
Moriarty
the 387th
Bomb
was
Group.
a sense through a funnel towards that
From time
tion.
"We were
we saw some
to time,
They were
body who
got
pretty
rough
Going
point.
keep yourself
in posi-
collisions.
of twelve LSTs.
down and doused and
really beginning to constitute a
anywhere near those
loosening and snapping
LST 530
to
column
the second ship in a
ordered the barrage balloons pulled

loose.
Wight
Isle of
along in columns was not an easy task
cables.
danger
cut
to any-
The cables were
wind."
in the
carried Churchill tanks, jeeps, trucks, and six hun-
dred officers and
men
Army
of the British
destined to assault
Gold Beach. From the bridge. Duke looked down on the deck
and watt bed the soldiers come up from below and form
small groups.
Some played
This was Duke's
first
cards while others slept.
exposure
to
combat, ami the enormity
D-Day impressed him. He intended
of
into
to call his
own men
to the
along with the British soldiers and make the dramatic
dei k
announcement
colonel,
the
di.it
veteran
was Normandy. The
target
of the
North
British
campaign against
African
Rommel's Afrika Korps, sensed Duke's excitement.

"He
Soldiers packed into landing craft for
ame up
said Duke.
the final approach to the beaches.
"He
to
me and
he put his hand on
said. 'Careful,
young
fellow.
have seen the worst of desert warfare, and a good
were
you
in
my
shoulder."
my men
Most of
many
France and evacuated through Dunkirk. So
of them
I'd
advise
go easy, go quick, and don't get dramatic or emotional.'"
to
Ronald Seaborne was on an LST bound
was attached
lor
to the British loth Division as a
Gold Beach. He
naval telegrapher,
but he was a forward observer and thus served more like a soldier.
"On embarkation
dump my
to
meal.
was sent below and
remember, was
a typical
army
repast,
followed by steamed pudding and custard.
because
at
it
was served up
ompanying
told to find a spot
and await further orders. The
gear, get a meal,
It
stew and mash
stays in
my mind
an indented tray without any
in
utensils."
Like the other troops. Seaborne searched for anything with
which
to transfer the
food from his tray to his mouth. Fingers were
the natural choice, but Seaborne
how
98
was ingenious.
effective pencils are as chopsticks,
J.
DREZ
"It is
surprising
even with army stew!"
After dinner, the call

voluntary, but
it
seemed
went out
"Hands
for
like all attended.
church."
to
was time
It
was
It
to get right
"WE ENCOUNTERED A VERY,

VERY ROUGH ENGLISH
with your Maker.

"Every soldier on board seemed to be
was held on the upper boat deck,"
at
which
the service
said Seaborne. "An
army
chaplain stood behind a table covered by a tablecloth on which

stood a small silver cross. As
wind
the
we waited
for the service to begin,
sudden gust flipped up
started to increase in vigor.
the tablecloth, the cross slipped to the deck and broke in two
utter consternation in the congregation.
What an omen!"
LCT
Sergeant Warren Breniman was on board an
off
CHANNEL THAT HIGHT.

LANDING CRAFT, UNLIKE
REGULAR BOATS, DO NOT

ROLL WITH THE OCEAN
TIDES. THEY SLAP
DOWN. CONSEQUENTLY,
Omaha
I
Beach.
and
He was with
the 149th Engineer
as they arrived in the
assembly
Combat
area,
"We encountered
Landing
most of
his
men were
ocean
tides.
They
a very, very
rough English Channel that

roll
up and down. Consequently,
slap
with the
I
violently seasick during the evening.
each eruption of seasickness

for
everybody
just
tended
to
And,
Normandy
make
it
all
coastline.
in full
the coastline. Cruisers
many
"That morning,
boats,
The show was
fleet
began
on
to fire
spectacular.
the hold," said Breniman, "the naval
bloom, and
it
was really quite awe-inspir-
solid
closer to the beach
when
it
was time
to leave the
ground and
and
ships and
anything that most of us wanted to do
to get off of those pitching ships
Seaman
LCVP
and destroyers were
of those points to severe naval gunfire.
can't think of
more than
and
get our feet
on
get onto the beach."
First Class
Lawrence Orr was the coxswain on
(Landing Craft, Vehicle and Personnel) 33-3 on
USS
Bayiield off of Utah Beach.
"There were thousands of tracer bullets. There was everything

happening.
We
VIOLENTLY SEASICK
DURING THE EVENING."
the worse
ing to see these great battleships with their 16-inch guns firing at
also subjecting
PERCEHT OF US BECAME
Arromanches-
"When we came up from

bombardment was
THE
of course,
else."
Behind the LCTs, the bombardment

the
IH
would
guess that somewhere in the neighborhood of 98 percent of us
became
SOMEWHERE
NEIGHBORHOOD OF 98
unlike regular boats, do not
craft,
WOULD GUESS THAT
Battalion (ECB),
seasick from the rough seas.
night.
UP AND
didn't
have
to
worry about taking a bath. There
VOICES OF VALOR
lesBoins.
,-ol
G
BEHIND THE LCTS, THE

;l:3| ];-'
were big salvos

those
and
TO FIRE ON THE NORMANDY

COASTLINE. THE
German
falling in the water.
and they'd
88s,
think they were charges from
the water right beside our barge,
fountains of water would go up in the air and
just great
back down. Thank God that
SHOW WAS
hit
had
come
good bilge pump."
Lieutenant Cyrus Aydlett stood on deck on Bayfield
He was
the ship's stores officer, but while at sea and in combat he
served as the ship's coding
0130 we saw.
"At
our
air forces
ceeding
been
at
oliii er.
and German AAs.
We were
under way and pro-
anchorage through the mine-swept channel. We'd
to
general quarters since 1030.
among our crew
evident
combat between
for the first time, actual
We
anchorage.
The nervous tension
we proceed
as
is
quite
nearer the transport
have been under way since 0930
this
morning
and have not encountered any opposition whatsoever."
was mesmerized by the spectacular
Aydlett
minated against die black sky as the
Hew over
air forces
fire
show
illu-
and the airborne
the fleet.
"Allied
bombers are roaring overhead.
AA
fire
can be seen
the entire length of tins horseshoe-shaped bay which extends

for a distance of
At times
area,
it
approximately twenty-five miles
looked as
especially
if
Utah
Beach.
a solid sheet of flame covered the entire
when
the
bombers were making
their rim.
AA
shelters all
There were varied color flashes from exploding
over the area. The din from the roar of planes, bursting bombs,
AA
fire. ,ind star
"An Allied
lage, yet
for the
ing
are
it
shells
aircraft
to bail out.
momentum as
now trailing for
it
noises.
Flames are along the entire fuse-
nears the end of

several yards.
huge crimson
its
seems
minutes.
to
tions as
if
hit.
not get
Fingers of
fire
its
all
additional
a period of five
bombs away
branch out
thousand rockets had been
The others meet
with deathlike
is
absorb
flash rolls skyward.
One does
receiving a direct
gain-
glorious career. Flames
The crash
"Three other planes are destroyed within

or six
enough time
The plane suddenly noses down,
the din of battle
as
beyond description.
continues on for three or four minutes
crew
silence,
is
is hit!
before
in all direc-
fired simultaneously.
their death leisurely gliding far out into the
J.
DREZ
Guns aboard the USS Nevada blast

away at enemy emplacements,
attempting to weaken the
defenses
bay as
for a
if
seeking a helping hand that could prolong their lives
few more precious minutes."
While Lieutenant Aydlett watched the bombardment and

antiaircraft fire,
news
Germans. At 0215. 7th

est alert.
of the landings spread fast
Army
placed
all
among
Wire communications in the Corps sector went
units of the
the
defenders on the high-
German Army, Navy, and Air
to all
Force.
By 0220 German Naval Commander Normandy Walther

Hennecke had
correctly reported that paratroopers
had landed
near the Marcouf battery. Reports from the entire sector poured
in.
7th
Piecing the reports together. Generalmajor
Army
chief of
staff,
Max
Pemsel, the
recognized that the long-anticipated
invasion had begun. By 0300 he had judged the main efforts to
have targeted Carentan and Caen.

But Pemsel's report was shrugged off by his superiors
thought the attack was a diversion
would come
to the
main
attack,
who
which
at Pas-de-Calais.
VOICES OF VALOR
for the
landing troops.
Chapter
7
UTAH BEACH
The massive armada
Normandy
ports
arrived
the Bay of the
in
their cargos of soldiers
oft
By 0330 the troop
coast under the cover of darkness.
were disgorging
Seine
the
trans-
from their tightly packed
quarters below deck into small landing craft that rocked and pitched in
the three-foot seas.
On one
of the transports.
Susan
Anthony, the soldiers of the 25)4th Combat Engineers
B.
were out of the war before they could climb down the
"We
and
got the order to put our packs on
Sanderson.
had
"I
The ship shook

had struck
my
all
pack on and was reaching
over and
mine and
all
of the lights
get
for
nets, victims of a
ready
my
to
rifle
when
went out and we were
started sinking. Lin kj lor us,
was
it
German mine.
disembark," said PFC Archie
at the;
there
was
loud noise.
in pitch dark.
The ship
stern of the ship
where
it
struck and not the bow where we wen- located. Everyone was shouting: we wen; scared, but
there
was no panic
would be
to
run
for the stairs.
One
combat
to die before getting into
"Our captain calmed the men down and
abandon
ship.
placed
my
rifle
my
on
top
of the thoughts in
B.
that
descended cargo nets hanging from
down, holding on
Disk
2,
to the vertical
Tracks 1-4:
Anthony abandoned
rails of
ironic
our packs and prepare
told us to Like oil
bunk so
if
couldn't get out.
of dying by a bullet rather than letting the water close in on
While the men aboard Susan
my mind was how
it
our hard training.
after all of
me
to
had the option
in the pitch dark."
ship, other soldiers of the invasion force
the troop transports. In groups of four, they climbed
rope strands while their
OPPOSITE: A "Force U" LCT
feet
sought the horizontal ones.
carries troops
bound
for
Utah Beach.
Invading Utah Beach
Jan. IS, 1944

Eisenhower
becomes supreme
commander; planning
June
4,
1944
June
in
France put on
D-Day
alert
makes decision
to
0015-0300
1944
Eisenhower
Resistance
operatives
5,
proceed with
Airborne troops land

in
Normandy
to the east,
(British
then
Allies
beaches;
bomb
first
grou
troops land on
ai
island off Utah Bea
0630
H-Hour on
0700
U.S.
Army
0730-0745
H-Houron
Utah and
Rangers
Gold, Sword,
Omaha
scale Pointe
Beaches
du Hoc
and juno
Beaches
0930-1330
1203
British
Troops
advance
commandos
meet airborne
troops at Orne
inland
bridges
2400
1300
1600
U.S. 4 th Infantry
Tanks move
Five beach-
meets 101st
inland from
heads secured
Airborne at
Omaha
liberation
Pouppeville
Beach
underway
"Men
in lull battle gear
had
climb
to
down
DeVink of Company
said Sergeant John
the cargo nets,"
87th Chemical
D.
Mortar Battalion. "Some had their arms or legs smashed as they

tried to
jump
battle gear.
Mortar tarts and
Once the
pulled
packed
sardines in the landing
like
craft
were loaded, the coxswains of the LCVPs
circled, waiting for the rest of the craft to ren-
dezvous before they could make

circled endlessly,
it
their
run
and behold, when
lo
though our landing
as
fell
it
beach.
had never heard or
"I
seen a battleship firing a salvo, and,

fire,
to the
seemed, under the huge guns of
the battleship Texas," said DeVink.
they did
craft.
all."
away and
"We
regular
forty-pound radio and a portable telephone
We were
to carry.
my
into the landing craft. In addition to
bad
craft
was
lilted
clean out of the water, such was the suction as the huge
shells traveled overhead."
The
power
and Nevada added
battleships Arkansas
to the
When
beach pounding.
that lire Lifted, the
would be
of the United States 4th Infantry Division
Utah Beach. The men had
maps and knew
that their landing
to tell
them
causeways, would be
first in at
would be across the beaches

fields.
their columns, restricted
that
sitting
men
studied the terrain models and
all
and then up four narrow causeways over flooded

one needed
their fire-
ducks
lor
ing the roads with automatic weapons.
No
to the
enemy
force block-
Maneuver
in the fields
an
was impossible because the Germans kept them flooded by

controlling
the
and the
locks
tidal
Channel. They kept the gates open

An
Allied general
descends
landing craft for the
trip to
into a
shore.
in
and then closed the gates on the
water
in the fields.
quagmire
for
the
English
lo lei the
falling tide to
The low land behind
to land
armor
Percv Hobart had designed a

tank" because of
its
in the first
water
keep the
the beaches
was
wave. British general
"swimming tank"
called a
duplex drive that operated propellers
main engine. While
in the
water the tank inflated
proof canvas screen. Fully submerged
one-man. canvas dinghy. But when
104
of
two miles.
The plan was
its
at
rush
high tide
J.
it
DREZ
it
looked
"DD
off of
a water-
like a small,
emerged from the deeper
The battleship Arkansaswas one of
water
took on
it
dial beast
its full
dimension and resembled some primor-
Utah Beach on D-Day.
roused from the deep.
DD tanks were
made up Companies A and B of the
These thirty-two
were
go in
to
inland as
first
fast as
Company C
three large gun boats that
carried in eight
LCTs and
70th Tank Battalion. They
with the assaulting battalions and
to
proceed
they could to link up with the airborne units.
consisted of regular tanks under the
command
of
Captain John Ahearn.
"C Company's role was

B,
and
to
be in support of Companies
to also take care of the lateral
A and
defenses on the beach."
But before any of the force could cross the line of departure
and assault the beach, there was more trouble
in the Channel.
Four control vessels were to lead the assault waves
them on
line
and guiding them on the paths
in,
keeping
to their respective
landing areas.
Utah Beach was divided

Lieutenant
into
Green and Red
Craft Control 60), the secondary control vessel for
He was
sectors.
Howard Vander Beek commanded LCC 60 (Landing

Green Beach.
a veteran of the landings in Sicily
"PC 1261 and LCC

vessels for
primary and secondary control
80,
Red Beach, were obscured from our view by mist
and darkness several yards
to
our right," he said. "Ahead, on
we could observe little or no

enemy was there; they continued
we gave their barrage little more
the low, silhouetted beach,

activity.
But
to fire at us!
we knew
the
But in time
than cursorv attention.
VOICES OF VALOR
105
pounded
!"he pilot
of this
craft
managed
safely
on shore.
smoking
to land
it
"Then, suddenly,
behind
us.
deafening, thunderous roar sounded
then over us. then ahead of us. Nevada led the
ships out at sea in a saturating, Long-range
bombing
beach defenses. Over us drenching streaks of
lire
launchers whooshed
to the shore.
from rocket
Tons of destructive force
upon the mist-shrouded, open-air theater only yards

of us. Violent explosions
of the
fell
in front
and colossal blazes changed the
scene, and bursts of smoke, dust, and scurrying sand curtained our view."
[During this
news.
welcome bombardment,
LCC 80 was
fouled one of
its
si
Then,
at
tangled up in the assembly area, having
"We saw
to the
A German
artillery
round
1261.
the
PC 1261 suddenly go
off
course to starboard.
Within five minutes, dead in the water, with mainmast
and men going over the
106
to
beach.
0540. more bad news:
PC
was some bad
rews on a dan buoy that had been placed
guide the landing craft
ripped into
there
side,
down
she sank," said Yander Beek.
J.
DREZ
Lieutenant Sims Gauthier. senior officer and navigator.
watched
helplessly. "At seven
saw PC 1261
rather
fast.
just
Neither could
up. and this
is
thousand yards
men
now Red Beach
really a sad part to go through, seeing these
doesn't have any control vessel at
all.
and
that
immediately
set
a state of confusion.''
With no control vessels
DD
all
down
nor anyone else stop and pick them
screaming, hollering, and asking for help. So
up
off the beach,
slowly rolling over and the stern went
tanks, tried to form

directions,
was
"It
killed."
some
to lead
some
them
in.
But they steamed in
sort of a line.
trying to avoid
men
the LCTs. with their
in the water.
geese flying in the flock
just like
when
the leader
is
observed Gauthier.
He went down
to the navigator's table to
the course into Green Sector.
He had
continue to plot
down
not been
minutes when another explosion threw him from his
"The
for five
stool.
knew was that our little craft was lifted up

we came down again and there was a shock
came through that vessel. An LCT with four DD tanks
first
thing
out of the water and
wave
had
that
just
been blown sky high and everything disappeared
in a
matter of seconds."
was another mine, the victim
It
this
time
LCT
Lieutenant
was
his
607. with four
Grundfast was commanding.
boat.
The
to
thereafter,
form a
It
literally
men were
four tanks were
underwater.
face of water
column.
alone a small
to destroy a ship, let
killed except
we
officer in the boat
two men and myself.
lost.
opened
from
almost a line abreast,
blew us sky-high. The other
killed. All the
"When
line abreast
when we were
mine powerful enough
hit a
was
was sent
signal
few minutes
opened
my
my
eyes, the next thing

eyes.
somewhere above
was
saw the
sur-
With H-Hour
just
looked up. and
my
knew.
head."
Chaos reigned in the assembly
area.
twenty minutes away, the landing was not organized. The

captain of
PC 1176 summoned Vander Beek and Gauthier
over and ordered them to go to ships heading for Red Beach
VOICES OF VALOR
Grundfast was the
one of only three survivors when

vessel hit an underwater mine.
tanks and crews, and seventeen naval personnel. Lieutenant
Sam
Sam
captain of LCT 607 on D-Day. He
107
Infantrymen aboard an
LCI
watch as a German mine explodes

on the beach off their port bow.
.iikI
things out.
try to sort
best he could.
He made
He would handle Green Beach

key decision
sion back on schedule so the tanks
to try to gel
would
arrive
as
the inva-
on the beach
with the infantry.

"Instead of dispersing the tanks into the water
at
five
thou-
sand yards, as planned." said Gauthier, "we would disperse them

at
three thousand yards.
lost four, so
We
had begun with thirty-two tanks and
we
dis-
went around with
the
from three thousand yards from the beach
persed the remaining twenty-eight.

loud-hailer to
all
instructions that
the
I
commanders
was going
to
DD tanks and gave them

my position away from the
of the
change
middle point of Green Beach and assume a new position
in this
four-hundred-yard lane that separated Red and Green Beaches.

"I
gave them instructions that those that were scheduled on
Green Beach [were]

the others on
led
108
them
to stay so
Red Beach
many yards on my starboard, and

many yards on port; and we
to stay so
in that way."
J.
DREZ
"By 0615. the primary control vessel
dropped
dan buoy
at
her station to mark the line of departure
for the invasion
waves." said Lieutenant
"We went
point to lead in
to that
and Wave 1A. the
DD
Green Beach had
for
Wave
1,
Howard Yander Beek.

the
first
of the
LCVPs.
tanks."
Yander Beek had never seen
DD
tank before. They seemed
almost comical, and he could not take his eyes off them as they
struggled to the beach.
"They were odd-shaped sea-monsters depending upon

huge, doughnutlike, canvas balloons for flotation, wallowing
through heavy waves and struggling

they followed us," he said. "In
to
keep in formation as
reality, inside
the queer water-
wings were thirty-three-ton Sherman tanks."
The landing waves were almost back on schedule, but

seemed
that
the infantry
Germans were
would land before the
shelling the beach
tanks.
it
The
and rounds whistled overhead.
"Geysers of sea water were coming from shell
fire
aimed
at
Bruce Bradley, a forward observer from the 29th Field
us." said
Sergeant Malvin
Artillery Battalion with the first
wave
keep our heads down, which made
it
of infantry.
seem more
"We had
chilling as to
what we would see when the ramp goes down. The noise
shelling
had been
hit
we were thrown down
by a
shell.
the shore until

first
my
wave
ally passing the
the
first
feet
or
sideways.
the
We
ramp was
dog-paddled toward
of infantry continued toward the shore, actu-
slow-moving
DD
wave was the
tanks.
man
oldest
Jr..
in
the invasion.
cousin to the presi-
and son of former president Theodore Roosevelt. He was
fifty-six
years
old
and had
requested to go in the
first
troublesome heart, but had
wave, reasoning that his presence
could only boost morale. Major General Barton, the 4th Infantry
Division commander,
The boats
in
first
the
refused, but then relented.
first
wave
hit
the sandbars.
Some
coxswains gunned their engines, crested the outer bars, and
VOICES OF VALOR
Company
Division, was ashore with the

wave on D-Day.
found sand."
Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt

dent,
knocked sideways.
The coxswain was gone,
down, the boat was sinking
In
of the
R. Pike,
8th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry
and counterfire was much louder now, and then a deaf-
ening blast and
The
to
109
first
E,
Troops reaching the sand

dunes on Utah Beach stayed
low and returned fire.
drove in
with
"He
Marvin Pike was
in
Y'.ill
one of the LCVPs
E of the 8th Infantry Regiment.
got off the bar,
and went
,1
hundred
another one, and he started again. "This
hit
gonna have
feet farther,
is it.
can't
make
it.
to get out.' Finally, the lieutenant said. T'ull the
the hole Finally, one of the guys said, 'To hell with
we
and he
drop the ramp.' And the Navy guy couldn't get the pin out
pin,
(it
closer. Sergeant
Company
just
.ill
jumped out over the
sides.
Where
this."
jumped
and
out. the
water was about waist deep.
we had about two hundred
"But
run.
thing you could do
The only
ward, and
we
finally
The soldiers of
of
made
it
go and you couldn't
kind of push yourself
is
to the
Company E
feet to
for-
edge of the water."
crossed the two hundred yards
open beach, observing close up the German obstacles. Some
were topped with mines, which would have been deadly had
the boats
come
in at high tide. General Roosevelt
was already on
the beach, walking upright with his cane, ignoring
German
rounds exploding nearby.

Pike
came
high, that
no
to a stop.
we had
to
"They had
a concrete wall, about four feet
go over, then a
J.
mound
DREZ
of sand behind the
Cap de
wall.
Nothing looked
map
like the
that
we saw back
in England.
After looking over the beach. General Roosevelt said. 'We have
we
landed in the wrong place, but
war from
will start the
south of
scheduled landing
its
site.
The
But Roosevelt was there
loss of the control craft,

to the drift to the left.
provide leadership.
to
bogged down
in confusion
He ensured
when
the invasion did indeed start from there,
it
tanks of
that
might have
DD
tanks of
and B of the 70th Tank Battalion, but the regular
Company C with Captain Ahearn.
"There had been some problem with the
"and we were indeed going
some
alongside
to
be the
first
DD
tanks," he said,
tanks on the beach, or
Company B tanks. My tanks did not have

but we had been weatherized, and we were
of the
this flotation gear,
able to get into five or six feet of water."
The
commander had maneuvered
British
Company C
carrying
his eight
LCTs
and discharged them
close to the beach
into water of a suitable depth.
The tanks
of
Company C
rolled
onto Utah Beach just behind the infantry.
"We then proceeded

became evident
been planned.
and
this time,
a decision as to
my tank and reported to him,

what my mission was. He told me
lateral parts of the
inland as
what
to
do
at
saw General Teddy Roosevelt on the beach, and
got out of
and
it
beach area was not the same as had
was faced with
into the beach," said Ahearn, "and
that the
fast as
we
and
to
told
him who I was
go ahead, secure the
beach, both north and south, and to get

could."
The combat engineers

beach of obstacles and
to
arrived with the tanks to clear the
blow holes
in the
massive seawall
to
allow access to the causeways beyond. Sergeant Al Pikasiewicz

arrived with the tanks.
"Our objective was

beach which were
of our
men
obstacles,
to
blow up
in front of the
ran up and tied
and
as they
were
all
all
the obstacles on the
roadway and the
wall. All
their explosives to the steel
tying.
"AFTER LOOKING OVER
THE BEACH, GENERAL
ROOSEVELT SAID, 'WE HAVE
LANDED
IN THE
PLACE, BUT
WRONG
WE WILL START
THE WAR FROM HERE."

SERGEANT MALVIH
and indecision.
Second on the beach were the tanks. Not the
Companies
Hogoe
here.""
The invasion had come ashore almost two thousand yards

and the German mines, had contributed
to
dropped
my
explosives to
VOICES OF VALOR
THE INVASION AT UTAH

BEACH, WHICH HAD BEGUN
WITH SUCH CONFUSION,

IMMEDIATELY PROGRESSED
INTO THE ATTACK.
an assigned
man and
down
ran
the beach,
unwinding
the
primer cord."
Each of the engineers attached
and timers
his charges
to the
primer cord as Pikasiewicz ran toward the wall signaling the
was ready
blow the
lieutenant that
all
tenant threw a
smoke grenade and
They
just as the fuse
lieu-
yelled, "Fire in the hole."
was burning, more boats dropped
ramps and the next wave of

for the obstacles rigged
but that only
made
seek shelter dire<
with the charges. The engineers yelled.
behind the obstacles.

are doing
my God. they're laying

I
left
grabbed some of them by their
and
the charging soldiers drop to the ground
tlv
"Look what those men
ran hack and
their
soldiers stormed ashore, heading
on the explosives!'" shouted Pikasiewicz. "So

I
The
obstacles.
huddled against the seawall awaiting the detonation.
all
But
to
veiling. 'Gel the hell out of here
because
this is
in
the wall and

field
ready
packs,
to blow.'
headed back
men and yelled to the rest.
all blew."
towards the wall, and when was fifteen feet from it.
Sergeant Richard Cassidy of Company C, 237th ECB was
and
pulled six
it
wounded
tive, the
came across the beach heading for his

seawall. "Someone came along and took one
as he
satchel charges, and

laid
was
ot
my
and watched them, and they
lay there
seven hundred pounds of explosives on the seawall.

,1
hell of a wall.
"Fire in the hole.'
when
It
fied
objec-
it
went
was
still
position
Someone threw
and
there's
It
grenade down, yelling.
guys walking on top of the wall
oil."
before 0700.
the
to
German
north
at
huge
forti-
Les-Dunes-de-Varreville
was
artillery
from
shelling the beach. General Roosevelt sought shelter in one of
the shell craters,
still
scoffing
at
the need for a helmet as he
pulled his knitted woolen hat over his ears. Tanks on the beach
and
in
the surf returned
Ironically,
German
fire
toward the German position.
had the force landed where
battery
would have been
it
right
was supposed
in
to.
the
the middle of the
invasion area.
The invasion
at
Utah Beach, which had begun with such
confusion, immediately progressed into the attack. Already.
J.
DREZ
Reinforcement troops landing after

Utah Beach was secured
the tanks were securing the flanks
and the engineers breached
eight fifty-yard lanes through the
went about
their work,
beach obstacles. As they
the unflappable Roosevelt walked
"General Roosevelt was there, walking up and
down
called out, 'Go

killed.'"
knock
By 0830
there
was
moved
9th Infantry Division stand behind

the seawall as others head inland.
the
it
was
he's going to get
sporadic.
on Utah Beach, the decrease
"I
on, inspiring everyone.
a noticeable slackening of artillery fire
the beach and from then on

soldiers
down,
that bastard
But the general simply
in fire
Unknown
was the
on
to the
result of a
VOICES OF VALOR
faced
German guns. Here troops from the
among them.
beach with his cane," said the wounded Sergeant Cassidy.
still
potential shelling from long-range
"3
men from Company E
daring attack by thirteen
Airborne Division
just three miles off the
The Germans had placed

with
a battery of four
a fifty-man crew, in the fields of a
Their purpose was
to
planned
targets. For
105mm
guns,
farm called Brecourt.
cover Causeway #2 and the exit off the
The Germans had been
beach.
of the 101st
beach.
firing since
0630 on pre-
two hours the batten- hammered away
at
the beach area, with spotters directing the fire from positions
close to the beat
h.
Suddenly mortar rounds began landing upon the German

position
.liul
an infantry attack crashed in on their right flank.
Thirteen paratroopers engaged the larger
paratroopers had been trying

that
landed them
their objective
in
German
The
force.
recover from a scattered drop
to
when
the vicinity of Sainte-Mere-Eglise
had been Carentan. miles away. Throughout the
night the small band, led by Lieutenant Richard Winters, fol-
lowed narrow
toward
its
farm
E,
506th Parachute Infantry Regiment,

101st Airborne Division
the paratroopers
who
was among
Hanking
Utah Beach.
fire
to attack
on
line,
"When Ramie} and

found
that
heard
to deliver
flanking
fire.
or seeing any of the
enemy
men
trees.
There were no
There were smaller
climbing up into these smaller
down among branches on
trees,
trees
I
in
on
So
fire.
large trees with
and
had
we
see-
positions.
going
would be needing our flanking
climb into the
a large single trunk.

in
providing
got out to our position to the right,
gun positions
the frontal attack

to
from the front and knew that the
fire
decided
men
heavy brush and groundcover prevented us from
ing into the

I
with two
from a concealed position. Sergeant Garwood Lipton
,md another trooper were assigned
attacked the
Germans from behind their lines

to open a hole in the defense at
Hanked by towering hedgerows,
objective.
The plan was

Sergeant Don Malarkey, Company
roads
found that
to settle
myself
the front side in order to be able to
see in the direction of the enemy.

"It
gave
German
I
me
a ringside seat,
down
into the
positions that were only seventy-five yards away.
saw Guarnere and Lieutenant Compton running
German
Then
into
the
positions throwing grenades as they went."
"We proceeded towards

Malarkey. "As
114
looking right
the
neared the gun.
J.
first
I
gun," said Sergeant
Don
could see the crew of two
DREZ
Germans
grenade and threw

the
it,
but the
got
one was dead lying under the gun, and the other one had
there,
field."
down from
Lipton climbed
the trees.
"When
gun position, Lieutenant Winters was
first
the breech of the
gun was blown out
TNT
still
reached
there but
a half-peeled
like
TNT down
banana. He said he dropped a block of
and since
the barrel
requires a percussion cap, Bill Guarnere had
German potato-masher grenade down the barrel

and that had done it. The other guns were taken one
dropped
with
When
from Buck Compton and [Richard] Winters.
fire
run out into a
the
down the field. pulled a

two gunmen were already hit by
105s straight
firing the
it
lies
St.
Morcouf
fes
Dunes
by one."
The small band
of
Americans had overwhelmed
German
force three times
ing
its
size
Causeway #2. From then
moved
Varrwille
and knocked out the four guns coveron, the
men
of the 4th Division
quickly over the flooded area to link up with the
airPointe du
borne
who had
successfully blocked any
German maneuver
Hoe
to
rGrandcomp~ies 8ain$^\?
reinforce the beach defenses.
VimviBe-sur-
Sergeant Leland Baker of the 101st was on the road leading
from the beach. In the distance he saw soldiers approaching.

"I
saw
a platoon of
the distance.
I
men coming up
the road
was unsure who they were. They
way down
got closer
could very easily see that four-leaf clover on their
der,
which was the
'Well,
don't
said, 'Fine,
know
shoul-
insignia of the 4th Infantry Division. Their
lieutenant called out to me, he said, 'How're

paratrooper?'
left
in
and
yet.
sir,
how
This thing
are
you doing
there,
you doing?' He
just started for us."
said,
said,
'Well, likewise here.'"
With
that casual meeting, the seaborne force
had linked
Utah Beach had been
a spectacu-
up with the airborne

lar
force.
success not to be imagined from
its
shaky
start.
American
small-unit leaders had excelled in overcoming the unexpected.
They had an excellent leader
Roosevelt
Medal
Jr.
in
General Theodore
For his action on D-Day. he
would receive the
of Honor. In just one
month, on July
12, Roosevelt died
of a heart attack.
VOICES OF VALOR
St Lourent-sui
Chapter
8
THE RANGERS
AT THE POINTE
In the eighteen-mile
Omaha Beach and Utah Beach
gap between
was an ominous prominence
there
dn Hoc. Both
Pointe
called
Generals Eisenhower and Bradley were very worried about this particular piece of terrain since intelligence
had identified
six large
guns
placed on the prominence.

Hoc was equidistant between Omaha and Utah Beaches."
"Pointe du
James Eikner,
force.
"The
destruction
who
as a
six 155-millimeter
down on
dous damage
to
far out into the
sea
much
and cause tremen-
D-Day morning was considered the
early neutralization on
Its
dropped
sea," Eikner continued, "the cliffs
verti< al to
The importance
2,
and reach
naval craft out there. So this installation was to be the most dangerous
pri-
off
about
hundred
feet
on the
near vertical to actually overhang."
of Pointe
tralizing fire they focused
Disk
25,000-yard range and they could rain
for thai day."
"Towards the
average from
guns had
either of the beaches
within the invasion area.
mary objective
said Lieutenant
member of the 2nd Ranger Battalion would be part of the attacking
on
du Hoc
to the Allied
this position.
planners
OPPOSITE: A squadron
Tracks 5-11:
Capturing Pointe du Hoc
is
clearly
shown by
The heavy warships had eighteen
of A-20
"Havoc" bombers return
on Pointe du Hoc, France
a preparatory raid
the neu-
targets
to
base
(April 15, 1944).
on
after
The huge
German gun emplacements at the point (enveloped here in a cloud of

smoke) weathered many air attacks to present a formidable obstacle
on D-Day.
Dec. 7, 1941
Jan. 15, 1944
Pearl Harbor;
becomes supreme
mmm
Ky
1 uiY/si 1
June
4,
1944
ir<U.iLinl
operatives
June
1 fcf
in
5,
u1
0015-0300
1944
V/d 1
in
"ranee put
D-Day
alert
I
T*lI]iill<I-f'.H
itt 1
makes decision
Normandy
(Bn
to the east,
then
Americans
to the west)
\f-
û.
'-
0730-0745
H-Houron
Utah and
Rangers
Gold, Sword,
Omaha
scale Pointe
Beaches
du Hoc
and Juno
Beaches
0930-1330
Troops
advance
heads secured
meet airborne
meets loist
inland from
troops at Orne
Airborne at
Omaha
liberation
bridges
Pouppeville
Beach
underway
inland
s>
'J*
U.S.
Army Rangers pack
into a
British landing vessel (LCA).
their
bombardment
number
one.
The
bombers also had

at
list
air
it
D-Day morning. Pointe du Hoc was
for
support plan for the
medium and heavy
as the top priority. Failure of the invasion
other places along the sixty-mile front might be overcome,
but failure
at
the point could spell disaster. General Bradley
called the task of knocking out the Pointe du
Hoc defenses the
toughest of any task assigned on D-Day.
To neutralize these guns, Eisenhower had conceived of a daring cliff-climbing attack using grappling hooks fired from special
inoit, us installed
on each of the landing
craft that
would
attacking force to the Pointe. This attack relied heavily

prise.
It
was reasonable
would not expect a

sheer
118
cliffs,
to
presume
that the
take the
upon
sur-
German defenders
force to attempt to scale the hundred-foot
so that's exactly
what Eisenhower planned.
J.
DREZ
Lieutenant Colonel James Earl Rudder was chosen to lead
2nd and 5th Ranger
the force consisting of the
plan sounded simple.
Company C
arate attack
on
It
2nd Battalion would make an
of the
a small
prominence
Raz de
called Pointe et
German
flanking
sep-
initial,
just to the east of the Pointe
This would be an attack that
la Percee.
would mostly support the

nate
The
Battalions.
wasn't.
effort at
Omaha Beach
to help elimi-
on the western end. But the main
fire
attack, the attack to eliminate the devastating firings of the big
155mm
guns, would
come
the Pointe
at
itself.
To attack Pointe du Hoc. Companies D,
would
Battalion
assault the cliffs while
the entire 5th Ranger Battalion
and F of the 2nd
E.
Companies
A and
B and
marked time offshore awaiting
the signal that the Pointe had been taken.
If
that signal came,
then they would follow in trace and land to climb the
cliffs.
Captain James W. "Ike" Eikner,

If
tion
to
the signal did not
come from
Hoc
Pointe du
that the posi-
had been secured, then the offshore force would head
Omaha
from the
Beach, land there, and
rear,
As the
move inland
2nd Ranger Battalion,

in
October 1945.
to take the Pointe
advancing along the coastal road.
armada
great
sailed
toward Normandy on the night of
June 5 and into the early hours of June
6,
there
speculation taking place belowdecks by the
Some
landing force.
east
of
it
was
cock}',
was much
men
and
talk
of the
Ranger
and some of it was whispered
concerns, but most talk exuded confidence borne of discipline
and
training.
Donald Scribner from Company C was belowdeck on the
HMS
British ship
et
Raz de
"I
remember
said. "It
Prince Charles.
Percee
la
would be
this
comment
beach as the
first
on French
when
to
up
make
LCAs [Landing
to us. 'Boys,
were
down and
Craft, Assault].
are going
on the
Rangers in this combat in this battalion to
soil,
hand with your
you
We
high.
Colonel Rudder came
the
but don't worry about being alone.
and F take care of Pointe du Hoc, we

a
on Pointe
quite well going across the English Channel," he
talked to us prior to loading
foot
C's attack
was very rough. The waves were very
about ten miles from shore
He had
Company
isolated from the rest of the force.
objective.
will
When
come down and
set
D, E.
give
you
Good luck and may God be with you.'"
VOICES OF VALOR
"9
at
home
Company
Maimone remembers his shipboard expewe had a little conference with the officers
how dangerous this mission was and we were facing
"On
rience.
telling us
great odds.
there,
it
E's
Salva
the boat,
The way they put
was
as
if
to
it
you.
you were ready
because you didn't have any chance.

all
the time you were
we
on the
with the odds you had
go to an electric chair.
And
and
boat,
to
had you feeling
it
and [men] were laughing and earning on. and the

everyone that even gets close
At 0300 on June
the
first to
to the cliff
ought
H)44. the Rangers of
(>.
about
to try to forget
played cards and tried to forget everything. But
tight
it
it
went on.
officers said
to get
an award."
Company C were
disembark from H.MS Prince Charles.
British sailors
stationed themselves to help the Rangers into the assault Landing
r.itt
th.it
were hanging and swaying
the Higgins boats,
which were
first
Unlike
in the davits.
lowered into the water and
then loaded, the British LCAs were loaded with the soldiers
before the boats were lowered into the water.
"Down went
ABOVE: Donald L. Scribner, 2nd Ranger
Battalion, Company C. OPPOSITE: U.S.
Army Rangers scale the rocks at Pointe
du Hoc. This picture was taken after the
area had been secured.
landing craft
the
the
in
said
davits,"
Lieutenant Sidney Salomon, one of the platoon commanders.
conversation had
"All
come
denly become mule. All were tense.
bottom of the landing

craft
away from
second
craft to
everyone had sud-
to a halt as if
craft
Now
the water.
hit
loud smack as the
The
first
landing
the transport began to circle, waiting for the
maneuver
When
into position.
both were in
their assigned positions, the parallel trip in the direction of
the shore began.
choppy waters
We were two
small bobbing objects
of the Channel.
"Suddenly there were splashes around the

cascading water. Then concentric
water
in the vicinity of the
craft,
circles, as shells
landing
craft.
automatic weapons directly
Rangers crouched low
in the boat,
throttle forward, but the pings

"I
120
at
ward
just a little bit.
in the
the
Germans
landing
fired
craft."
The
on the hull continued.
those in the stern of the
to
landed
and the coxswain pushed the
called out the words. 'Get ready",
along
and white,
Sharp pings of bullets
against the steel hull sounded, as the defending

their
the
in
J.
craft,
DREZ
which were passed
and everyone inched
for-
"The moment the ramp had dropped down, automatic
weapons and
sprayed the debarking Rangers, killing
rifle tire
and wounding several men. The second man was

from a German entrenched
let
at
the top of the
hit
cliff.
over and pulled
him
steel-hulled craft
would have steamrollered him.
by
I
a bul-
reached
clear of the craft, just before the heavy
"The Rangers waded
to tin 1
shoreline and started across the
sand, striving to reach the cover of the base of the
Machine-gun, small-arms
tht-
men
Quickly the
men
gathered
run across the sand."

the base of the cliff and returned
at
Germans above. Captain Ralph Goranson,
the unseen
fire to
and mortars cut down some of
lire,
as they attempted to
cliff.
company commander, ordered
the Rangers
up the
the
ropes.
"Lieutenant Moody, along with Sergeant Julius Belcher of

Si
hwartz Creek,
Virginia,
Indiana, scaled the

ninety-foot
up the
lilt
hist
cliffs.
was
that
to
Lieutenant Sidney A. Salomon,
who commanded the 2nd Platoon

of Company C on D-Day and later
assumed command of Company B.
Feet.
We
of
Newcastle.
free-climbed about a
partially an in< line
and then
straight
gave them covering
Fire
The
last
keep the Germans
ten or fifteen foot the)

First
These three men
twenty
fifteen or
from down below
and Otto Stevens
off their back.
hinned themselves up with their trench
knives and secured a series of toggle ropes from the barbed wire
emplacement up there so the
rest of us
could immediately move
over into this position and climb up the
cliff
and
get into the
area around the fortified house.
"Lieutenant Moody,
immediately when he got topside,
killed the officer in charge of the
We
Found the
men
of the area
rest
trench systems.
In the fortified
house.
honeycombed with dugouts,
And immediately
Lieutenant
Moody and
his
dispatched teams to go and clear up this area; they were
Followed
immediately by the 2nd Platoon with Lieutenant
Salomon, and
it
was
He was downed by
That
left
the trenches
house
ter of the
right here that
we
lost
Lieutenant Moody.
a sniper."
Lieutenant Salomon to lead the forces on the
He ordered Rangers
tified
Germans
and
in
groups of twos and threes
holes. Finally the Rangers
at the top of the cliff thai
whole
position.
J.
DREZ
was
cliffs.
to clean out
surrounded the
for-
the lire direction cen-
who threw
"This was put out of action by Sergeant Belcher

in a
white phosphorous grenade," said Captain Goranson, "and
when
the
Germans came
were sent
out, they
heaven by
to
Sergeant Belcher's gun."

"Ultimately,
made
pointed, indicating
Salomon, "and spot-
to the top," said
it
some twenty- five yards
ted a series of trenches
We
should run to the trench.
all
distant.
all
ran and
leaped in the trench fully prepared to take sole possession, and

opposition from the foe soon ended, and
who was
that
still
with me. Nine
had been jammed
men remained from
for Pointe
the
start.
Raz de
et
LCAs with Companies
ten
flotilla of
the thirty-nine
in the landing craft."
While Company C attacked Pointe

small
looked around to see
la Percee,
the
D, E, and F headed
du Hoc. For these companies, things went wrong from
One
of the supply boats
was almost immediately
swamped, and sank. The remaining nine pushed on through

rough
seas, but
while
second boat started
still
eight miles off the
to fall
Normandy
the
coast, a
behind.
Water poured in from the sides and despite a frantic bailing

attempt by the Rangers on board, the boat
with water,
filled
E.
commander
Company
force of
Company
D, including the
eight boats, with 225 Rangers,
fal-
The small
force's troubles
the coast, Colonel
company commander. Now
pushed
were not
Rudder noticed
du Hoc.
for Pointe
As they approached
over.
prominence
that the
they were headed was not Pointe du Hoc, but Pointe

Percee.
allel to
He
quickly had the
helmsmen change course
the coast, running a gauntlet of
German
et
to
fixe.
to
which
Raz de
la
head par-
The other
boats followed in a line, two hundred yards off shore.
James Eikner described the predicament.
when
the
somebody
first
said
small arms hit our boat and
what
it
was.
for keeps,'
and so we
standing up except for those
can remember
"I
made
looked and there was a
hole through one of the rope boxes and
guys are playing
it
all
who were
said,
got
and
it
got
little
and
round
'My God these
down.
We had been
bailing water, so
ducked down. The Germans were taking us under

ing ducks in a tub
a noise
worse as we got closer
fire like
we
all
shoot-
to the Pointe."
VOICES OF VALOR
of
1919, in Chicago,
and sank, eliminating one-third of the sixty-five-man
tered,
Goranson, company
Captain Ralph
123
Illinois.
C,
born July
4,
After the
smoke
cleared at
The
Pointe du Hoc, evidence of the Allied
bombardment was obvious

craters
left
in
the
error in navigation caused a forty-minute delay in getting
to the Fointe.
The narrow window
to signal for the
offshore force
on the beach.
to follow
was almost
closed.
would have
5th Battalion
been taken and
that they
The plan had been
s,iw
in the
,111
The
2nd Battalion and
rest of
to
proceed
to
Omaha
Companies E and F
Company
approach changed
I)
landed
this. First
The
Company
1)
to
Beach.
land on the
left
to the right, hut the
Sergeant Len
homed
narrow gravel beach.
into the
eight landing craft had a total of forty-eight mortar
tubes
to lire the
grapnels
came
ashore,
fired its six grapnels.
it
only twenty-two
at
the top of the
made
cliff.
the top.
enough. The Rangers began the climb
to the top
it
As each boat
But of the forty-eight
to
of the
of
opening between the boats of E and F and ran the remain-
ing two boats of
ropes,
all
be signaled that the Fointe had not
were
for
side of the Pointe while
delay
to
Still,
it
under the
Germans wdio Lobbed grenades down and
was
fire
tried to cut
the ropes.
As the Rangers worked
their
way up hand-over-hand, one
the special amphibious vehicles idled in the
124
J.
DREZ
ol
choppy water and
raised a unique
weapon
to
dominate the
DUKWs
Four
cliffs.
(pronounced "ducks") had been equipped with extension

ders from the
London
Fire Brigade.
and two of the others could not
One had sunk on
and inched
vertically
On
it
toward the
was
top of the ladder
the twin Lewis
William Stivison,
roll of
the craft while
machine guns mounted on the
he came even with the level of the plateau, ninety

air,
ladder
lifted its
sky.
Staff Sergeant
bobbing and weaving with the pitch and
manning
now
the run in
on the narrow
get positioned
beach. But the fourth edged forward and
lad-
top.
he blazed away while the ladder pitched and swayed
runaway
fire
hose and tried
Germans diving
aim the unsteady guns
to
/(
feet in the
like a
pendulum. Stivison raked the top of Pointe du Hoc much

a
As
like
at
the
for cover.
The Germans
fired back, but
hitting the elusive sergeant as
had an equally
he swayed back and forth
target in a shooting gallery.
Enemy
but none found their
The
target.
difficult
>>JrS
time
like a
tracers licked past Stivison,
aerial firefight lasted for a cou-
ple of minutes. In the end, the rough
Channel won out and
Stivison had to be lowered, neither he nor the
Germans any
the
Sergeant Leonard G. Lomell, of
Company
after
D,
was wounded immediately
stepping from his boat, but
continued on up the
worse
for wear.
of the
Now Company
D, having
abandoned the
the weight of their attack to the
left
right side,
added
side of the Pointe. Sergeant
Lomell was wounded through the side as he stepped from the

boat, but continued
gathered his
Moving
on and climbed the
men and rushed

like rabbits
cliffs.
Once up
there he
forward.
running from hole
to hole, the small
Ranger force advanced toward the three casemated gun positions
on the
right side of the position
have ascended the
When
where they were
originally to
cliffs.
they got to the positions, instead of having to attack
heavily defended gun emplacements, the Rangers stared into
empty
pits
and casemates.
"And so there were no guns

"So,
we
in the positions," said Lomell.
decided, 'Well, they must have an alternate position
somewhere.'
And we
some evidence
thought, 'We'll hear them.
of the movement.' But
we never
Maybe
we'll see
did hear them."
VOICES OF VALOR
125
German guns.
cliffs in
pursuit
Lomell did not waste time Lamenting the empty casemates.

Since his primary mission to destroy the guns was not attain-
he immediately turned
able,
was
joined the
German
Sword Beach
at
positions
all
out of their billets in
and
to the
communications
kept firing and charg-
where they came
We
were confronted
the road from the point to the
to set
Omaha
to
"We
of undress.
way up
Our orders were
Germans from going

all
way from Grandcamp
their buildings area,
all states
with them there on our

coast road.
the
all
said Lomell.
way through
the
secondary mission, which
Ouistreham.
"We never stopped."

ing
to his
the coastal road that ran behind the Pointe
to interdict
up
and keep the
a roadblock
We
Beach.
were
to also destroy
visible along the coast road."
Lomell's small force from
Company
coastal road,
where they
set
were hardly
in position
when
I)
was the
up roadblocks both
the
sound
of
first to
left
and
reach the
right,
but
marching boots was
heard. Quickly, the small Ranger force ducked for cover and a forty-
lerman patrol soon appeared heading
iii
fifty-man
of
Utah Beach. Since the force was not heading
numbered Rangers
and faded from
them
let
pass.
fortified at
Pointe du Hoc because of
and
the inset emplacements.
the natural
cliff
along the coast road
the direction
the;
out-
into a field
reset the roadblock.
Lomell and Sergeant Jack kuhn walked

The Germans were well
in
Omaha,
The Germans turned
and the Rangers
sighl
to
short distance
.1
to the right of the intersection,
and found
small sunken road that had signs that heavy equipment or wag-
barriers
ons had passed. Lomell remembers:
And
so Jack and
where the
hell
came upon
it,
it
was
went down
going, but
peeked over
ammunition
ready, but they
were pointed
Omaha
piled
at
sunken road not knowing
was going inland
up
just
at
and we
all
over
over
proper firing
neatly, everything at the
Utah Beach. They weren't pointed
Beach."
the abandoned guns. Finally he saw
dred soldiers in the
far
moments
J.
DREZ
look-
group of one hun-
corner of the field looking as
having a meeting. He saw his chance.
126
pure luck
all sitting in
Sergeant Lomell lay in the hedges for several

ing
with camouflage
this
hedgerow and there were the guns,
condition, the
at
this
this vale, or this little draw,
and low and behold,
this
it
if
they were
you cover me. I'm going
said. 'Jack,
"I
them." So.
all
covered me.
know
if
had was two thermite grenades.
went
your eyes on these people.
said. 'Keep
and destroy
in there
anybody comes, and you keep your eyes open.
in.
he
won't
"
Lomell crept from his position in the hedgerow and slipped
on the German force one hundred
into the field keeping an eye
away He
yards
put one of his two thermite grenades into the
elevating and traversing
mechanisms
and then crawled
second one and repeated the process.
He
to the
of the
gun
closest to him.
pulled the pins and crept back to the hedgerow as the
grenades silently ignited. The white-hot heat soon melted the

metal of the mechanisms and rendered the guns immovable.
They could
still
be
fired,
Germans never turned

corner of the
moved from
their position in the far
field.
we
"But then
a
but only in their locked positions. The
or
ran back to the road." said Lomell. "which was
hundred yards or so back, and got
grenades from the remainder of our guys.

there
manning
So we
a roadblock.
Sidney Salomon (who became a

all
I
the other thermite
had
stuffed
dozen guys out
them
we
could, in traversing
nisms and banged the

Lomell again
left
for his bravery at Pointe
in our jackets
and we rushed back, and we put the thermite grenades,

as
captain) received the Silver Star
as
many
mechanisms and elevation mecha-
sites."
the field to join Jack
Kuhn who was
dili-
gently watching the approaches, and the two Rangers started to
run away. But

faces.
a gigantic explosion
Thinking
was
it
a short
dropped them both
round from one of the
to their
battleships,
they scrambled to their feet and ran back to the road. Later they
would
learn that
it
by another Ranger
had been the destruction of an
ammo dump
patrol.
With the actions of Sergeants Lomell and Kuhn. the

dreaded guns of Pointe du Hoc were neutralized. The
cliffs
had been scaled, the road between Omaha and Utah Beaches
had been
interdicted,
and the guns had been put out
The Rangers had become the

D-Day
first
American unit
to
of action.
achieve
its
objectives.
For their actions. Lomell received the Distinguished Service
Cross and
Kuhn was awarded
the Silver Star.
VOICES OF VALOR
127
Du Hoc.
Chapter
9
THE 16TH REGIMENT
AT OMAHA BEACH
Eighteen-year-old
Infanterie
of the
Regiment 726 was positioned
German defense along
Vierville-sur-Mer.
ing
up
to
Franz Gockel
Private
at
of
the
Widerstandsnest 62 as part
the beach between Colleville-snr-Mer
From the German
and taking place on June
lines
the lack of defenses constructed
1944.
6,
from Colleville-sur-Mer
at
Salerno
in Italy,
Rommel
position.'' said
al
to Vierville-sur-Mer.
it
away from
walls and overheads
Disk
2,
Tracks 12-17:
Dec. 7, 1941
Jan. 15, 1944
Peart Harbor;
"
becomes supreme
le
compared
ol
the bay in our sector with the bay

to
be constructed."
the massive concrete defensive positions called
lire
Sim
along the long axis of
e the
fifteen of these strong
Omaha
Beach, convert-
apertures of the steel-reinforced, concrete
the sea, they were virtually invisible, and their six-loot-thick

to
naval gunfire.
OPPOSITE: The invading
wade from
force at
Omaha Beach
often had a long
way
the landing craft to the shore.
Omaha Beach
at
American e
made them impervious
The 16th Infantry
coast, Field
had sharply criticized not only
by June, the German defense bristled with
into a formidable killing zone.
positions faced
rOi kel. "I le
and urgently ordered further defenses
points positioned to deliver enfilading

ing
Normandy
our position hut also those along the entire coastline
ordered the construction
W'irfrrstandsnests and.
and
he witnessed the events lead-
"In February 1944. during his inspection ol the defenses ol the
Marshal Rommel had visited our
Kompanie,
3rd
June
4,
1944
operatives
in
June
5,
1944
makes decision
0015-0300
ormandy
ast,
(British
then
to the west)
to
.
0730-0745
h and
Gold, Sword,
_maha
scale Pointe
Beaches
du Hoc
and Juno
Beaches
iu
0930-1330
advance
inland
heads secured;
meet airborne
meets 101st
inland from
trooDS at Orne
Airborne at
Omaha
liberation
Pouppeville
Beach
underway
dges
F0 GREEN
A map of the Omaha Beach invasion

showing sectors targeted by both
the 16th Regiment (to the east)
and the 116th (to the west).
area,
"During the several weeks preceding fune

for
75mm
guns were poured and only the
6,
were lacking," said Gockel. "We constructed tank

beach
at
low
tide
two casemates
steel aperture covers
on the
barriers
from logs topped with Teller mines. Other
beach obstacles were Czech hedgehogs made from crossed iron

beams, and Belgian Gates, from thick
"Running
wall
made
steel stakes.
was
low
of water-worn stones enclosing the beach,
and
parallel to the waterline before us
along the wall was laid a minefield for the purpose of protecting us from surprise attack during darkness.
been dug between VVN 62 and
WN 61
tank trench had
and was protected with
mines, and our position was protected with a tangle ring of
barbed wire
Now
alert,
rolls."
(iockel
"The alarm
he
130
and
his
having been called
said. "A
twenty comrades
to
call into the
comrade stood
at
VVN 62 stood
at
quarters at 0200.
bunker woke us from
in the entrance
J.
DREZ
deep
and continued
sleep,"
to
shout
We had
the alarm, to dispel any doubt, and urged us to hurry.
often been shaken to our feet
no longer took the alarms
by
weeks
this call in the past
seriously,
and some
over in their bunks and attempted to sleep.
An NCO
way behind our comrade and brought
the entrance
with the words. 'Guys,
time
this
it's
men
of the
so
we
that
rolled
appeared in
us
to
our
feet
for real. They're coming!'"
There had been the reports of parachute landings. But thus
far
Gockel's sector had remained quiet as he stood straining his eyes
toward the sea and shivering

flew over and the rumble of
Suddenly
it
seemed
in his thin
summer uniform.
bombs could be heard
that there
was movement
Aircraft
in the distance.
in the Channel.
"Dark shadows could be detected on the horizon," said

Gockel. "and
we
believed them to be
first
German
patrol craft.
But soon the shadows grew and became so numerous that
hope was dispelled. The detectable wake from
large
all
and small
ships increased in number."
And
saw the
then as the gray
dawn
began, Gockel and his comrades
great armada.
"An endless
cruised along as
Heavy warships
before our sector.
fleet lay
if
passing in review.
spectacular but terrify-
German
Private Franz Gockel
was
eighteen years old at the time of the
ing experience."
D-Day invasion. He was part of 3rd
The LCVPs made
their run-in to the
The naval gunfire kept many
soldiers watched.
down, but the German plan was

sion
beach
to
was ashore. Some long-range
hold their
artillery
German
as the
of
them pinned
fire until
could
Kompanie, Infanterie Regiment 726,

stationed at
the inva-
fire to sea,
but
the guns of the beach defenses were oriented to cover the beach.
Al Littke of the 299th
ECB was mesmerized by
dous firepower demonstrated by the Navy with
bardment and
"With
thought
its
the tremen-
big-gun bom-
[LCT(R)] rocket ships.
its
all this
firepower,
it
should be a cinch," he
was untouchable. As we were going
were using the ,50-caliber machine guns,
in,
said. "I
the navy
firing over
men
our heads
towards the beaches.
"Once
On my
left
dropped
hit the
I
my
beach,
advanced
fifteen feet
could see GIs advancing, and

charges
the break wall,
at
and
lay
down.
tried to run,
the steel obstacles and continued
which was
like
and
up
to
an embankment of stones.
VOICES OF VALOR
131
Omaha
Beach.
mSmmi
At the Easy Red sector of
Omaha
Beach, as at other sectors,
American infantrymen of Company
There was plenty
of
room
to lie
down behind
it.
and we were
E,
16th Infantry Regiment, were pinned
down and took cover behind

anything that was available.
well protei ted."
The men
in the first
embankment,
wave sought
shelter behind this low
or "shingle," of loose stones.
It
defined the high-
water mark of the beach and provided the only cover

small
amount
of protection from direct
The beach was zinging with

ization thai be
man
bullets.
was under tremendous
to give a
fire.
Often a man's
fire
was
to
first real-
watch another
go down.
"I
Littke,
saw
bunch
he dropped his
throat
of GIs lying face
down and
not moving," said
"and then noticed a GI running up, and

rifle
of a
and with both hands he clutched
and went down. Another man running
footsteps
all
went down and
sudden
for his
practically in his
his helmet rolled off."
The German defenses smashed
the
first
wave.
Up and down
the beach, the carefully planned defensive line unleashed
massive firepower.
132
J.
DREZ
its
and landing
"Assault boats
YVN
beach," said Gockel of
62,
approached the
craft rapidly
"and the
closely packed
first
landing troops sprang from their boats, some in knee-deep
up
water, others
to their chests.
There was a race over the open
beach toward the low stone wall running parallel
which offered the only
line,
action.
the
Now, the
first
machine gun
first
meters headway.
had opened
with short bursts aimed
round
after
round from
75mm
his
and watched
few
heavy machine gun
comrade
fired
gun."
Corporal Robert Miller. 149th

sector
my
with
fire
making only
after
the landing boats.
at
into
and within seconds
bursts,
wave troops collapsed
assault
to the water-
"Now we sprang
protection.
ECB
arrived at Easy
a jeep roll off the front of his
LCT.
It
Red
dis-
appeared underwater and reappeared, unscathed because
had been waterproofed.

like a
next,
it
extended exhaust pipe stuck up
Its
periscope above the water. The trucks disembarked
and then the men.
"We dropped completely under with

gear." said Miller.
exception of gas
was able
"I
mask and
swimming
the beach.
to
and
steel
my equipment
to eject all
all
our
with the
and leap upward from
steel helmet,
Robert H.
above water, and started
The weight
of the soaked clothes,
helmet made
it
near impossible, but
did reach water hip-deep finally and attempted to stand up.
was near exhaustion by

weighed
at least three
Miller
waded
this
time and
felt
as
staggering
in.
like
below the surface, pulled down by
men
disappear
their water-soaked gear
and
not able to free themselves.

"I
saw ahead
of
protection. At last
up the beach when

me.
had been
hit.
back looking up
reasoned,
my
sensation of
me
GIs huddled behind a shale ridge for
reached shore and was about fifteen
a big
and the next thing
God,
my
movement
feet
white flash of nothingness enveloped
at the sky.
legs
in
tried to get
knew,
was
flat
up but could
had been blown
off since
on
not,
I
my
and
had no
them."
VOICES OF VALOR
wading
was
soon
Hearing
drunkard.
to see
of those
made
Beach. He
hundred pounds."
screams from behind him, he turned
Combat
the 149th
Omaha
my body
though
was one
shore at Easy Red Sector of
left
I
Miller, of
Engineers,
my head
the ocean floor, finally getting
boots, gas mask,
the weight of
133
landfall, but
to
hit
after by a bullet to the spine that
him paralyzed.
Miller discovered his legs were intact, but a bullet had sev-
He took
ered his spine.
on Omaha Beach.
his last steps
The swimming DD
tanks, designed to land
first
and pro-
vide the infantry with armored support, were nowhere to be
when
seen
launched
made
far
the
men came
first
to the beach.
it
commanding LCT
Lieutenant Dean Rockwell,

his
535. brought
beach and discharged two tanks
to the
raft
Most had been
ashore.
out in the Channel, and had sunk. Only five
He
directly.
caught the attention of every German gunner.

"As soon as
we landed our
tanks,
we began
getting the hell
we noticed that some of the tanks

A German 88 in a pillbox, on the
out of there." he said, "but
were already
extreme
in
trouble.
our landing area, protected by heavy
right flank of
concrete overhead and side shields, was tiring through a
and enfilading the
entire beach. Initially
LCTs. Two were immediately

three
wounded on LCT
tion to the tanks

Sergeant Jerry W. Eades was
chief of a section that fired a bow-
mounted howitzer as his landing

craft came in to shore.
and
burn from the direct
itzers
in
Battery,
the
slit
concentrated on the
were
sailors
killed
The German 88 turned
713.
its
and
atten-
could see some of the tanks begin
to
hits."
The 58th and 62nd Armored

in eighteen LCTs.
Three
hit.
it
field Artillery Battalions
each with two
105mm
self-propelled
came
how-
bow. Sergeant Jerry Eades was section chief,
62nd
Battalion.
"Our boat had the #3 and #4 guns, and we knew what our
job
was and what we were prepared
tiring at
to do,
and
that
was
to start
approximately eleven thousand yards out. or when
our guns came in range of the beach. The officer-in-charge
would time the distance we would cover on

a small
dle,
washtub hanging on
a string,
and
his watch.
a large
He had
wooden pad-
and each time the boat would go so many yards by
watch, he would rap this tub like a gong and
we would
his
fire
one round. The gunner would then immediately change his

settings to lower the range fifty yards
Fifty
yards
later,
and reload the gun."
the 105s fired again. This continued to
within two thousand yards of the beach, where the gunners
could not depress the barrels lower.
134
J.
DREZ
German gun emplacements
similar
one kept the Allied forces

pinned down wherever they could
to this
find cover
HHfliHHHHHHk
The boats turned, and
the sides of the LCTs.
as they did,
They followed
German
fire
smacked
the infantry in, but could
not land.
"As we came back in," said Eades, "everything was bogged
down on the beach, and the boats slowed to almost a standstill,
and we stood by for a possible fire mission."
But no fire mission came. The infantry was pinned down in
the German killing zone. Later the LCTs again came in close to
unload. But as the guns rolled off the ramps, they went straight
to the
bottom.
"On came the second wave,"
said Franz Gockel of
WN
62,
"and again the race across the beach, and again the defensive
fires.
More and more comrades were
came slowly forward and

The
soldiers landing
killed or
the waterline crept
wounded. The
up on
on Easy Red sector of
tide
the beach."
Omaha Beach
usually sought cover behind the steel obstacles on the beach.
As
the water crept forward with the onrushing tide, they were forced
to
move. Every
man came to the same conclusion. The only safety
lay in getting across the
beach
to that stone
embankment.
Soon the embankment was packed with

press against
the
it
for safety.
soldiers trying to
As more and more huddled
Germans recognized the
together,
target.
"The safety offered the attackers was only temporary," said

Gockel, "for our mortars lay deadly
fire
upon
preset coordinates
VOICES OF VALOR
135
on the beach.
General Rommel had telephone poles

topped with mines installed to explode
the hulls of invading
craft.
along the wall. Mortar rounds with impact fuses exploded on

target.
The
shell splinters, wall fragments,
casualties
upon
"Hour
alter
and stones
hour, hoals and
beach, attempting
to
gain ground.
landing craft
The wave
ass. lulled
gruesome cargo ashore.
diers foughl for their lives,
the water, the waves
In the
was
swells
rise,
the surf
wounded
sol-
and the dead floated and tossed
dumping them onto
Everett Schultheis
the
of attackers broke
against our defenses, and as the tide continued to
broughl
inflicted
the troops.
in
an
in
shore."
LCT with
a half-track of the
467th Anti-Aircraft Artillery (AAA) Battalion. As he made his run

to the
"I
beach, he saw the
counted sixteen
at
1)1)
tanks struggling to the shore.
one time," he
said, "but
one by one the
screening devices collapsed and the tanks were swamped. Out

of sixteen, only
two made
were knocked out by
136
it
ashore, and within seconds, they
hostile fire."
J.
DREZ
The second
of the 467th
AAA boats came ashore. "We went in,
dropped our ramp," said Samuel

knocking half of
Reali's crippled
men
and then
off,
it
out to another vessel. But
We
our ramp.
cement pier
off,
"We dropped
bringing
was not out
it
to sink,
Germans had
We
never saw him again.
we
but
conked
hit a pier
off.
went
that the intake
thirty-five feet
on Omaha Beach with hundreds of

vehicles littered the sand.
German
alongside of me.
guns, and
Reali dragged
continued
to
it
mine,
He found
THE SURF RROUGHT A
The
splattered
went
fourth shot
him
in the side
off
from the
with shrapnel."
the vehicle as the
Germans
He gave him morphine, shouted
it.
IN THE
SWELLS WOUNDED
SOLDIERS FOUGHT FOR

THEIR LIVES, AND THE DEAD
W K. Brown, came along and
Brown away from
pound
TIDE CONTINUED TO RISE,
and they put three shots around
started zeroing in
soldier, a friend of
slid right in
OUR DEFENSES, AND AS THE
GRUESOME CARGO ASHORE.
men whose smashed
me. Then a
GAIN GROUND. THE WAVE OF
and the
another destroyed half-track and dived under.
"Germans
CRAFT ASSAULTED THE
ATTACKERS RROKE AGAINST
out."
Reali took his place
other
ROATS AHD LANDING
REACH, ATTEMPTING TO
and dropped
drove off with our half-tracks, which
pipes weren't long enough and
"HOUR AFTER HOUR,
there.
were waterproofed, but the water was so deep
half-track
it,
of the fight yet.
ramp and Lieutenant Dewey jumped
the
hit
wounded
terribly
its
to the shoreline again
were beginning
that the
"and the Germans
us again, right in the center."
hit
LCT backed
"Then we returned back
Reali,
FLOATED AND TOSSED IN THE
WATER, THE WAVES DUMPING
THEM ONTO SHORE."

RFRMMI DRIUATE ERAU7 CIMVEI
for a
medic, and pushed on across the devastated beach, attempting

to
reach the inviting stone wall. Along the way, he stumbled
across another comrade.

"I
found
my
friend from
Sam
Battery,
Depollo,
who had
gotten shot in the stomach by something that had separated his
body
feet
into
two separate parts
from the top
Steve Kellman of
made
tars
it
past the
Company L landed
embankment by ten
feet,
in knee-high water.
but
still
the
He
German mor-
found him. "Suddenly shells landed about ten yards away and
the concussion flipped
my
his bottom part was about twenty
part."
right
was
killed
me
and
Stripping off his
over on
had
my back. A man immediately to

feeling in my right leg."
numb
leggings,
Kellman bandaged his own
wound, but could not walk. All he could do was turn around
and watch the next boats come ashore.
VOICES OF VALOR
\]Ouisfre-
JL
ham
Troops of the 16th Infantry Regiment

are
shown here
cliff
resting by a chalk
that offered temporary
protection while they invaded.
"Succeeding waves of ships came in and a great many of the
men were cut down coming across the

eighty men in our assault group, only
beach. Of a hundred and
seventy-nine of us
came
across the beach alive."

Albert
Mominee
of
Company
came
men. His boat was two hours
thirty-five
on an LCI with
in
late
and the water had
overed the German-placed obstacles.

'About tour hundred yards from shore, the
Lurch as
an obstacle and
hit
it
in
followed by a blinding flash of

flames. Flames raced around
and then stopped, coining
craft
gave a sudden
an instant an explosion erupted,

fire.
The LCI was enveloped
and over
us.
The
craft
on an obstacle buried on the
to rest
sandy bottom which prevented us from sinking any
The
soldiers scrambled off the stricken vessel.
eighty-pound flamethrowers strapped on never had

the water they
drew the German
further."
Those with
a
chance. In
fire.
"The Cermans who were inside of a bunker on top of the

overlooking the beach directed machine-gun
in the
still
water and toward those
clung
"I
to
it.
down on
138
men who
six out of thirty-five
fire
hadn't
toward the
left
cliff
men
the craft but
escaped unharmed."
could see the Germans on top of the bluff about seventy
feet up." said
and
Only
in
slowly sank,
us.
said.
PFC Theodore
Aufort, "and they were shooting
large landing craft
'Thank God
came and discharged
for support."
J.
DREZ
a tank,
"He made
it
through the obstacles, got halfway across the
rocks and cobblestones and just sank down,

like a shovel,
and
it
sank on
its
belly
its
treads acting
and couldn't move. But
those guys that were inside that thing were letting everything
go.
They had two machine guns, and they were
heads
firing over
our
the bluffs."
at
The German
fire
was
merciless. Herbert Campbell's visit to
Easy Red sector lasted only a few minutes. He was with the 5th
Engineering Special Brigade.
"A
was
German
shell hit
our landing
and
three feet from me,
man
and
craft
killed a sailor that
that started
down
the
ramp
ahead of me had his arm almost completely severed from his body
"I
body
and on the
got hit in the legs

as
left
and
my
right side of
ran onto the beach, and [the] supply sergeant ran past
us and yelled, 'Men,
The medics ran

on the same
to
let's
be
get off of here or we'll all
killed.'"
Campbell within minutes and evacuated him
boat.
Omaha Beach was
utter chaos.
The men huddled,
leaderless,
German
in small groups, realizing that large groups attracted
fire.
Tanks and vehicles burned, and the plan was a shambles. The idea
of a quick landing with troops forming
on the beach and
exiting
up
Regiment,
in
the several draws proved to be fantasy. Bodies

tered the beach,
and
lifeless
and body
time, eyed the dominating high ground,
way
off
was up the
Captain Joe
Dawson
in his
and concluded
of
Company G had jumped
team perish from
a direct hit.
Working
was joined by nearby survivors
of his
his
way
to the crest of the bluff
Dawson. "Upon blowing

gingerly over the
that the
body
he
company.
my right
overlooking the beach," said
gap in the concertina wire,

of a soldier
who had
led
my
stepped on
in seeking to clear the path."
Dawson then
led
and
coming ashore and being cut down by

the
off his land-
"A minefield lay in and around a path extending to
mine
own
to the shingle,
lie
watch the successive waves of men
three men, only to see the rest of his boat
first
men
the leg
ist Division,
and, unable to walk, could only
cliffs.
ing craft with the
and upward
lit-
corpses tossed and rolled in the surf.
To stay on the beach was suicidal. Each man,
only
parts
Company L, 16th
was wounded
on his way up the beach,
Steve Kellman,
two other men up the tiny path where they
ran into some other soldiers led by Lieutenant John Spaulding
VOICES OF VALOR
139
German guns.
from Company
With Spaulding's men covering. Dawson's
E.
now became
small team advanced upward. The steep terrain

his ally, ottering
"Waring
vertical
and
him some cover and concealment.

becomes almost
the crest of the bluff, the terrain
is
almost twenty
Dawson. "This
feet in height." said
enemy
afforded complete defilade from the entrenched
A machine-gun
nest
could hear
and mortar
Dawson
"I
rifle
was busih
fire
above.
beach, and one
firing at the
coming from the
bluff crest."
crept forward.
enemy
tossed two grenades aloft into the
upon exploding
my men and
machine-gun nest became
the
Spaulding
exit
Dawson was
crack in the
in the trenches."
made
the top. His tiny attack
first to
line
saw the enemy moving out
and the dead Germans
German
waved
proceed as rapidly as possible, and
to
then proceeded to the crest where
toward the E-3
and
trencb.
silent.
the
first
and compromised the defenses guard-
ing the E-3 exit. To the west, the
men
attempted a
in half-tracks
second breach.
Sergeant
Hyman Haas
|4i>7th
tracks directly in front of WTVJ 65.
"and we disembarked.
It
AAA] landed with
"Down came
was nothing. The
German machine
Hyman Haas was
467th Anti-Aircraft
part of the
Artillery Battalion
its guns on the German

and eventually broke a hole
that turned
pillboxes
in
guns, and
"The beach was not
the German defense.
half-track after another
was
fa<
ten
in all
firing.
all
of a
my
infantry
objective.
lined
up one
sudden
mvxelt looking up a pillbox, dug directly into the

the officers on the beach, an
up
could hear the
We wen;
and
half-
the ramp." he said.
ing exit K-l.
in control.
two
entire platoon lined
on the beach: there was pandemonium and

Sergeant
his
officer,
cliffs.
found
One
of
immediately
caughl our attention and began pointing towards that pillbox.
That only meant one thing
None
it
maneuvered
it
to
machine guns, back
and
in action.
did."
its
37mm cannon
into the water
broadside to the fortified position.
his vehicle so the
been able
alive
his vehicle (an M-15), with
and two .50-caliber
and
Had he placed
hood faced the enemy, he would not have
depress his guns to
fire.
So he engaged them from
broadside position. Meanwhile, the menacing gun
concrete casemate blazed away.
140
was
of the other half-tracks reacted, so
Haas directed
this
that
J.
DREZ
in the
The second
vehicle, the M-16, with
and took up
also drove back into the water,
twenty-five feet from the M-15.
deadly quad
its
a firing position just
The M-16 opened
quad .50s, the guttural roar and blazing firepower

to the
beleaguered soldiers. The
fired his
37mm
opened
"I
covered the
fire
.50s,
fire
with the
welcome
relief
Haas then
target.
cannon.
and was
fire,
below the
hitting
pillbox,
Hart [on the .50 caliber] was peppering the target.

shots were low.
whereas
My first three
took the antiaircraft range, and clicked that
and raised the sights three
clicks.
off,
The next ten shots went
directly into the porthole of the pillbox.
"We
one
fired
full clip
and
37mm
part of a second clip of
ammunition, and they went directly into the pillbox and that
was the end
of that."
Widerstandsnest 65 became a beehive. The massed halftracks
answered the German
197th
AAA
attack.
Adjacent
fire.
added the weight
to the 467th, the
its
sixteen vehicles to the
PFC Al Sponheimer was with
the medical detachment
of
of Battery A.
"When we
lined
got
on shore, everyone turned
up on the beach.
stretch,
We were
with sixteen half-tracks.
windshield because the
to the right
lined on a
We
steel plate
couldn't see out of the
was down, and the
and the lieutenant could only see out of two
"When we
stopped,
all
we owned on
about ten yards.

tried to drag
that
When we
some
you could see was the ground
beach
for the next four
get
washed back out
of the tracks backed out into the surf
From
hours was
we
cliff,
to sea."
and turned around,
and backed up the
that position, the multiple
vehicles delivered devastating
The 467th and 197th
Omaha
just
terri-
from in front of the tracks,

out of the water and bring them
presenting the rear of the vehicles to the
center of
was
Sponheimer Jr. served in the medical

detachment of Battery A, 197th AAA.
Al
of the bodies
up where they wouldn't
sloping beach.
It
finally did get out of the track,
from underneath the vehicles
Two
driver
slots in the front.
covered with dead GIs. You could hardly see sand.

ble. All
and we
hundred yards
fire
AAA
guns of the two
on the high ground.
had cleared the way
in the
Beach. Exit E-l was open.
VOICES OF VALOR
141
Chapter
THE 116TH REGIMENT:

INTO THE JAWS OF HELL
On
the western half of
Omaha
Beach, the 116th Infantry Regiment
Dog
of the 29th Division assaulted the
sectors labeled Green, White,
and Red. The key objectives were the two
exits off the
Vierville-sur-Mer and Les Moulins, labeled D-l and D-3.

The first wave, scheduled to attack at 0630 on a line stretching from
sisted of
with
Companies
Company E
A.
('..
F.
and
E.
Company
E,
on the extreme eastern
beach
at
D-l to D-3. con-
think,
was
to tin in
of the 16th Regiment.
But the German mines and obstacles broke that line of advance as coxswains of the LCAs
searched for openings through the deadly barricade.
Company
E of the 116th actually landed
men were intermingled with

men from Company E of the 16th.
Company F landed partially in its sector, but Company G actually landed to the right of F
instead of to the left. Alone among the four assault companies, Company A plodded on.
a half-mile off course
through four gaps
in the obstacles.
Their
the
exactly on course,
its
coxswains guided by the most prominent landmark on the beach
steeple of the Vierville church, right at the D-l exit. Following in trace of
Companies B and
all
bound
Disk 2, Tracks 18-22:

The 116th Infantry
at
Dec. 7, 1941
D.
for
Dog Green
sector of
Omaha
OPPOSITE: Troops disembark
LCI
412
the
Company A were
Beach.
at
Omaha
Beach.
Omaha Beach
Jan. 15, 1944
comes supreme
June
4,
1944
operative
June
5,
0015-0300
1944
es decision
in
Normandy
'0 the east,
(British
then
icans to the west)
beaches;
first
ground
troops land on an
island off Utah Beach
0700
Utah and
0730-0745
Gold, Sword,
Omaha
Beaches
0930-1330
advance
meet airborne
land from
heads secure
liberation
Beaches
underway
But before
ble.
Company A
could even reach shore, there was trou-
One of its six boats
(Boat #5) began tilling with water
"Smoke clouded
the lower coastline," said Private John
"We could
Barnes, in Boat #5.
that, the single spire oi the
We were
right
on
and above
just see the bluffs,
church:
was
it
and sank.
We knew
Vierville.
it.
target.
"Our LCA roared ahead, buffeting the waves. Suddenly

swirl of water
wrapped around my ankles, and
the front of
the craft dipped
down. The water quickly reached my
and we shouted
to tin 1
other boats on our side. They
waist,
waved
in return."
One man drowned and

water, out ot the fight.
ing force
still a
"When we
we were
told they
hilly in view as
was
John Barnes was aboard
ramp. The
.md began
Company
A.
to
Tom
Valance,
would
which meant
be.
and dropped the
men of Company A jumped off into knee-dee]) water

move forward and then crouch to return enemy fire.
to
"There was
a rather
wide expanse of beach." said Valance,

to
be seen
at all,
but they were
ing at us, rapidly, with a great deal of small-arm
problems was we didn't quite know what
looked
fight-
prevent the landing
the landing craft steady
"and the Germans were not
tracers
its
low."
The coxswain held

the sinking Boat #5, with other
one-sixth of
got to the beach." said Sergeant
Germans
the tide
of
lost
thousand yards from shore.
"the obstacles erected by the
were
members
the rest floated helplessly in the
Company A had
coming from
One
fire.
to fire at.
saw some
concrete emplacement, which to
mammoth. There was no way was going

I
German concrete emplacement with
to
fir-
of the
me
knock out
Valance was hit in the hand, but pushed forward. Then
seemed he was engulfed by German

"I
was
hit again,
once
on
my
helmet was severed by
the beach, and staggered
The bodies
cases,
144
blown
of
my
which broke my hip
my chin strap
my way up onto
pack, and then
a bullet.
up against
of the other guys
body amongst many
my
worked
a wall,
and collapsed
washed ashore, and
friends
who were dead
to pieces."
J.
it
fire.
in the left thigh,
bone, and a couple of times in
a .30-caliber rifle."
DREZ
there.
was one
and, in
live
many
Troops stay low as their LCVP
approaches Omaha Beach.
Company A was
were locked onto the
pulverized on the beach. The unseen guns

killing
zone of Dog Green
sector.
concrete bunkers were at the foot of D-l, both firing
Two
the
WN
73,
beach. High above those two massive positions was
dominating the long axis of the beach and almost

100-millimeter gun did not miss, and
fire as fast as
the gunners could shoot.
the infantry of the
German 352nd
it
invisible. Its
hammered
From the top
Division poured
giant
down
out deadly
of the
cliffs,
fire into
the
landing craft and disembarking troops.

Still
drawn
the boats of the 116th Regiment
to a flame.
came on
like
moths
Their reward for perfect navigation to the
correct landing beach
was
to enter into the
jaws of
hell.
VOICES OF VALOR
145
Landing troops help a comrade
whose
ship went
down
offshore.
"The comp.un
ommander was
Captain Taylor X. Fellers and
was Lieutenanl Ray Nance,"
the e\ci
PFC George Roach.
said
"Lieutenant Anderson headed up our thirty-man boat team.
"When we
sand,
the
hit
Lieutenant Anderson was die
Dominguez.
In
ramp went down and
the
off the boat with
first
the next lew seconds,
went
Dominguez had already been shot and was
there
waving
his
hand
was no more sign
One
of the other
for us lo
of
life
PFC
Gil
machine gun
ran off
Company A
fire
and
killed.
at the right side
by machine gun
to thirty
yards
forward, and suddenly
boats did not land in shal-
off at the
middle of the ramp,"
fire.
in
Rodriguez,
who was
and he was immediately cut
jumped from
private,
in half
the port side of the
ramp
about nine feet of water. The landing
had not landed on the beach,
it
or a sandbar."
146
saw
Murdoch, "and was immediately cut down by
and found myself

craft
from him."
low water. "The lieutenant ran

said
move
and
lying in the water
and sand. Lieutenanl Anderson was twenty-five

in front,
off.
Private
J.
DREZ
had landed on
a runnel,
The coxswain,
managed
grab a rope on the port side as
to
dragged him
"I
to the
which was out

to
them
beach from where he
came under one
finally
quickly backwards to us, and
as PFCs,
of the
all
were the senior
Roach was
saw
there.
spoke
saw somebody crawling
was George Roach with
it
all
of the
the
offi-
noncoms were dead, and he and
men on
I,
the beach as far as he could see."
The only surviving
right.
The LCVP
in.
crawl forward.
asked what happened and he said
were dead, and
cers
went
it
tried to
and there were two men
of the water
flamethrower.
by the ramp but
hit
of the underwater beach obstacles,
few moments and then
for a
and came ahead
realizing the error, backed off
ramp lowered. Murdoch was
again with the
Lieutenant Ray Nance, the executive
officer
was
First
and he was not
officer,
yet
on the beach.
"I
went
minutes
was
B Company, which actually was nineteen
in with
after
A Company,"
a division order that
boat.
When
front
and
all
got
up
around
there
said Nance.
an
officer
was everybody? Where was

got in above high water
a soul.
A Company?
what happened
it
was
to
some men hunkered behind an

"Four
men from the
jack things,
I
and I yelled
said that, a mortar
wounded
the other.
one
go
off. It
off the
looked around in
in front.
didn't
know
A Company.
was nobody
(From
for
them
in
Clements were
saw Lieutenant Winkler
of
entered the boats before the
with
only
turned
them and
"The ramp went down and Captain Zappacosta was the
man
off,"
didn't kill
said
PFC Robert
him
instantly, but
Sales,
"and they
just riddled
he was hollering
at
off.
first
him.
It
me. Everybody
VOICES OF VALOR
B,
of the 116th.
in sight.
could step
at
Omaha
Beach. Nance,
who arrived
may have been the
officer to survive the initial landings
B Company; he
men
116th
Company
my right and they were going down just like hay dropping
before the scythe, just mown down, and Winkler was killed."
On came Company B. Down went the ramps, and the
fire
ill-fated
an executive officer
was on
machine-gun
the
until
and no sooner than
killed three of
in
Regiment
obstacle.
and
Lieutenants Ray
Where
water's edge he spot-
to scatter out,
left to right)
Nance, Edward Gearing, and John
29th Recon were behind one of those steel
round came
I
to
nobody behind me."
Nance was alone on the beach. At the

ted
first
man
they were bumping
so thick. There
turned and looked, nobody in sight
the
first
Nobody
around and saw the bodies in the water

against one another
was
and dropped and
mean, not
"I
be the
147
who went off.

The only
that
ramp.
were
of that boat, they

that he
and
was
didn't
were cut
right there
toward him. and he
started
knew
to
and D Companies, the ones
Most of those men are
in that
ol
on
sinking boat of
body against the
down
slow
in
the onrush of seawater.
were passing through the thin wooden sides of our
LCA we could only
my
die inner door
get out
one
thirty
down
buddies went
down
was opened.
at a time,
heavy
as they
right
and
in
left
in the
upper
right corner of his forehead.
of lives.
toll
the LCA.
front of
me, and
wound
He was walking cra/.il v
the water, without his helmet, and then he got
.md
started praying with his rosary beads,
Germans
cut
him
mountain on the
in half.
The
fire
and
came from
right flank of the
In
German
Lieutenant Donaldson, and another sergeant had a gaping
Team #5, Company A, 116th

Regiment, is shown here in May 1944.
Their boat sank on its way in to the
Dog Green sector of Omaha Beach.
in
"Sergeant Barnes got shot
Part of Boat
We
that landed
cemetery there." Robert
machine gun trained on the opening took
Many
went down
lieutenant had pressed his
The ramp was lowered, and
a British
off
me
sole survivor of his boat team.
The
B.
"Bullets
vessel.
just
was the end of him.
that
PFC Harold Baumgarten came

ramp
everybody was coming
fast as
by those pillboxes by the Vlerville draw were caught
was the
Company
off the side of
dropping. Zappacosta hollered to
come back up and
to pieces. A. B.
a crossfire.
Sales
and
hit.
just
caught in crossfire.
stumbled and went
looked back and as
We got
they just cut them down.
thing that saved me.
moment,
at that
in
his knees
the
a pillbox built into the
[WN
beach
down on
73]."
The German machine guns were zeroed on
the small boats.
Those few men who escaped the quick-fire guns
had
still
to
contend with the mortars and larger weapons raking the beach.
Company D
followed
Company
B.
The ramp went down
and the machine guns answered. Sergeant Robert Slaughter,
whose name had

the side of the
"I
lire.''
into
meaning on the beach, jumped
said.
hit
man get
After
we
off
deep water.
could see some of the landing
he
people got
one
a special
ramp
got ashore,
and they were
in the
craft taking
looked back.
tremendous
Some
water bleeding, and
tangled up in the motor of the landing
craft.
of the
I
saw
He was
going around and around in that motor. As the landing craft
148
J.
DREZ
ramp
started backing out with the
know whether
don't
and
obstacles or what, but they took a hit
George Kobe of
LCYP
down
still
Company D
it
sank.''
looked over the gunwales of his
wave, and as we went
in the third
and the sea was choppy, but
quite rough
closer to the shore
seemed
it
and then B Company. Things
didn't
A had
seem
said. 'See,
it
was
getting
We
could
hit the
beach
to level out a little bit.
where we were, and Captain Shilling
in.
we were
as
up ahead what was going on. Company
first
hit.
approached shore.
as he
"We landed
see
they took a
they hit one of the mines on the landing
too bad from

told
you
it
was
going to be easy'
when we went
"But
Germans scored
whole
they threw everything
on us and an 88
ramp and knocking
ing off the
was
Shilling
in.
a direct hit
hit
front of the
and
both
off
LC was knocked
platoon sergeant and knocked his
off
steel doors.
by the
killed instantly
at us.
The
shell hit us. tear-
Captain
The
steel door.
and the other door
hit
our
eye out."
left
To the east of Dog Green, the situation was almost as bad. At
Dog Red. Sergeant Harry Bare landed.
"Company F assault boat landed on Dog Red Beach,

than planned. Fire rained
down on
from the bunkers on top of the
fire.
its
the
cliff.
The men went over
direct hits.
us.
machine gun,
saw
further east
rifle,
rockets
PFC Gilbert Murdoch landed with
Company
assault boats like ours take
the sides of the boats to avoid the
The boats were zigzagging to avoid being hit. Our boat dropped
ramp somewhere near Les Moulins, and
landing
first off,
took a shot in the throat, and
"As ranking
make
it
noncom,
somehow
in the sand,
off three
tried to get
to the cliff,
unable
to
move.
but
it
my lieutenant,
never saw him again.
my men
off the boat,
was horrible
and
men frozen
My radioman had his
head blown
yards from me. The beach was covered with bodies,
men with no
legs,
no arms
God.
it
was awful.
was
It
absolutely terrible."
Toward the center

ashore.
Each
of the beach,
of the vessels
gos of reels of wire,
two
of the larger LCIs
came
had over 150 men aboard, plus
satchel
charges.
car-
Bangalore torpedoes,
flamethrowers, grapnels, and other supporting materiel.
VOICES OF VALOR
149
A.
*M
%
*J
A dead American soldier lies on

Beach, one of thousands to
Omaha
perish
in
the assault.
*.
V.
"The
front
small-arms
"I
dock was
fire,"
row
could hear some bullets
down
and we were beginning
to get
hit the sides of the boat.
An
LCI has
movable ramps alongside the bow. which would be
a pair of
when
lowered
(led
said Lieutenant Robert Walker, aboard LCI 91.
the
the troops were to land.
ramp on
was supposed
the starboard side As our boats
the lines of underwater obstacles,

of the pilings
it
seemed
to get
which were slanted downward
toward the boat. The boat
slid
up on the
piling
to
moved
go
into
caught on one
in
the water
and there was an
explosion which tore the starboard landing ramp completely off

the boat and threw
it
high into the air before
it
landed in the sea
about twenty yards away."
The coxswain backed

headed
for the port side
the craft off of the obstacle. Walker
where the other ladder was
engulfed in flames. Small-arms
German gunners zeroed

blast
and
in
fire
intact but
raked the deck as the
on the range. Suddenly there was
a soldier carrying a
burning nearby companions.
flamethrower erupted in flames,
J.
DREZ
man
"The
he ran over
Walker.
with the flamethrower was screaming in agony as
The captain signaled

over the
and dived
to the starboard side
to
and dropped
rail
ming among
the dead
abandon
and dying, with mortar rounds trying
attempts to stand and took their
He swam
to jettison his gear in
my
dropped
for breath.
toll
he
said.
and then the harness with the musette

I
was
able to
swim
the next
infantry
unarmed survivor
man,
But
It
foiled his
to survive.
"Next came
bag.
With
that
my
helmet,
much
gone,
of being a fierce, well-trained,
was an exhausted, almost
helpless,
of a shipwreck."
LCI 92 was only a few yards

91.
alternately
in,
Waves
hundred yards and touch bottom. Here
was on Omaha Beach. Instead
fighting
to
on his strength. Soon he
an attempt
rifle,"
He found himself swim-
into the sea.
swimming, sinking, and gasping
"First,
fire."
and Walker climbed
ship,
pick off those lucky to have survived.
began
into the sea," said
could see that even the soles of his boots were on
"I
to the left of the ill-fated
LCI
ran past with throttles wide-open, heading for the beach.
its
fate
was the same.
"Some few yards
to the right of us,
aimlessly riddled by 88s," said
"Machine-gun
fire
another LCI was drifting
Yeoman Garwood Bacon
was mercilessly cutting
to
Jr.
PFC Robert L. Sales was with

Company B of the 116th Regiment.
He was the sole survivor of his
boat team.
ribbons any
who had managed to jump clear of the smoking and burning hull. On our left along the obstacles, could see
two or three LCMs sunk or overturned.
floundering troops
"Suddenly
to stern
and
a blast
shook our sturdy
a sheet of
little craft
from stem
flame shot up thirty feet in the
air
through the #1 hold directly forward of the conning tower.

fire
gaping hole. As
Jerries
if
the explosion were a prearranged signal, the
opened up with everything, and
gazed horrified
at
terror seized
me
as
the burned and bleeding, frantically rushing
and stumbling past me trying

fire
broke out below and smoke and flames poured out of the
to get
away from
the blinding
and smoke."
LCT 614
carried sixty-five
men from
the 116th Infantry
Regiment and an assortment of bulldozers and jeeps and

trailers.
Ensign Donald Irwin was in command.
VOICES OF VALOR
151
"We
ment
finally
intense
fire,
the fire
seemed
found
still
dropped our ramp
and then
off,
to
be
still
We came
and
to the right
left
and equipment
under
Most of
of us.
machine gun. and mortar
rifle,
couldn't get the soldiers
was
the water
LCTs
as did the
our troops and equip-
to get
did tear loose.
hell
all
fire.
But
because
off
too deep.
ramp
"A couple of bulldozers we're driven off our
deep water, but did reach the shore, only
in pretty
be blasted by German
to
gunners with phosphorous shells which started them burning.
"Then some
of the soldiers with a couple of the
sioned officers leading took off from the ramp
As soon
two of them got shot

troops refused
ramp
could
in
stepped
in the water.
Omaha Beach was
It
the ramp.
left
The
off.
rest of the
human
do way force
beings
wounding
or death.
was evident
the inva-
into almost certain
There were bodies floating

sion force at
oi the soldiers
just as they
to leave.
to step off the
more
as a few
to
and headed
their armpits with rifles held high over their heads,

for shore.
commis-
water up
in
taking a bad beating.'
From the German perspective, however, the scene was similarly
frightening.
German
352nd Division was
in
position from atop the
American
original 29th
boats
ol
Meade,
Maryland. He was with Company D
time,
coming on
been trained among the

"Blue
& Gray"
Division at Fort
on D-Day.
first
I
time
shoot.
ten
cliffs.
shoot,
land,
we
could see landing
Then came thousands
of
men
at
and running over the beach. This
shoot! For each
go
to the
American
is
one
the
machine gun and
see
fall,
there
came
ones!''
Omaha Beach attack was shattered.

waves were now an ineffective fighting force.
right flank of the
first
Landing
three
craft
The 111th
itzers,
troops.
shoot on living men. and
hundred other
The
The
the
bring from his
for the first time,
"There was thousands of ships, and
PFC John Robert (Bob) Slaughter had
Rachmann from
Private Franz
combat
bringing in the supporting artillery were sunk.
Field Artillery Battalion, consisting of twelve
was destroyed. Before 0900. eleven
of
its
how-
twelve guns
were on the bottom of the channel.
Omaha were delayed because of the

men and equipment pinned down on the beach. The
Additional landings on
pileup of
Germans had
152
control
of the
J.
high ground.
DREZ
Defeat
of
the
American landing was
a real possibility until there
came an
unexpected development.
At 0740, Companies
landed
at
Dog Green
sector,
Ranger Battalion landed
and B of the 2nd Ranger Battalion

and ten minutes
to their left at
later,
the entire 5th
Dog White
sector.
They
reinforced the survivors of the 116th to form a formidable fighting force.
These Ranger reinforcements were available only because
du Hoc had been delayed. Colonel Rudder's
the attack at Pointe
which had
force,
come
that attack
2nd Battalion and
"The
of the 5th
Those units had
Omaha Beach
nate plan to land at
time reaching the
lost
had been successful, the signal had
too late for the rest of
Battalion to follow in trace.
Hoc from
had
drifted off course,
Although
Pointe.
to
all
of the 5th
initiated the alter-
attempt
to take
Pointe du
the rear in an attack along the coastal road.

British
crews worked us
in," said
Captain John Raaen
Ranger Battalion. "We landed on the beach, the ramps
went down, Sullivan was

across the beach,
out and
first
yelled to the
was second. As I rushed
men coming
out behind me,
pointing over to the right: 'Headquarters over here!'"
Raaen then turned
to look
back
at
the beach and
saw men
everywhere, spread across the beach, dead and dying, and

in the
men
water hiding behind obstacles.
Colonel James Rudder led the
Ranger Don Nelson lay behind the stone wall and watched
him and
the mortars impact between
"General Cota came trotting
down
Ranger force that reinforced surviving
members
the creeping water line.
the beach behind us
'Down
there.'
officer?'
We
pointed to the right and said
General Cota went on
down and
said 'Lead the
way, Rangers.'
"We went over
the seawall, and right there
The
concertina wire.
first
Bangalore torpedo under

hole.
We worked
our
thing
that,
way up
we had
and
to the
filter
little
The Rangers attacked with elements

(mostly
Company
German
stranglehold on the beach.
C)
Omaha
progress inland possible.
looking for our colonel," said Nelson, "and he asked us 'Where's
your commanding
of the 116th at
Beach and ultimately made
to
was
a big
do was
row
stick a
through that one
town
of
little
of Vierville."
of the 116th
Regiment
and by midmorning, they had broken the
VOICES OF VALOR
153
Chapter
11
THE BRITISH 2ND ARMY
AT GOLD, JUNO, AND
SWORD BEACHES
The
British 50th
Northumbrian Division assaulted Gold Beach
the east of the Americans at
were scheduled
0730.
to
Omaha
men
touched down at
Beach. Twenty-five thousand
go ashore, and the
first
of the force
The Underwater Demolitions Team (UDT) was
Germans directed
their fire directly
upon
it.
in first, but the
resulting in few lanes
cleared of obstacles for the approaching landing craft.

The LCTs came in and unloaded British special tanks known .is Hobart's
special
armor had the capacity
to
to
bridge small streams,
flail
Funnies. This
the land with rotating chains to
detonate mines, and lay mats capable of assisting vehicles across the beaches. The I)D tanks
were also part of the special armor.
The landing was
not unscathed. Twenty of the LCTs had struck
attached mines and suffered damage.
wounded and
their
Some men were
lost
German
obstacles with
with their tanks, and others were
equipment damaged. Overall, though, the Germans were not defending
the beach heavily.
Disk
The
2,
Tracks 23-26:
British
OPPOSITE: Troops of the
7,
1941
Jan. 15, 1944
becomes supreme
come ashore
at
Gold
beaches, and the one that offered the least resistance.
beach invasions
Dec.
British 50th Division
Beach, the farthest west of the three British-Canadian invasion
and Canadian
June
4,
1944
operatives
in
June
5,
0015-0300
1944
makes decision
in
Normandy
to the east,
(British
then
ericans to the west)
beaches;
first
ground
troops land on an
island off Utah
Beach
0730-0745
0930-1330
Five
IwuEu
liKSaliilii
meets 101st
inland from
beach-
heads secured;
Utah and
Rangers
Gold, Sword,
leet airborne
and Juno
Beaches
Airborne at
Omaha
scale Pointe
roops at Orne
liberation
Omaha
bridges
Pouppeville
Beach
underway
Beaches
du Hoc
who
landed his Sherman tank on
like a
beach landing exercise than
To Lieutenant Pat Blarney,
Gold Beach,
seemed more
it
the long-awaited invasion.
"The only difference
that there
was were the LCTs blowing
up on the beach obstacles and swinging about."

"The beach defenses on Gold Beach were not as numerous
as
had been led
of the Royal Navy.
Gold Beach.
"I
Lieutenant Brian
to believe." said
Whinney was
was able
to
T.
Whinney,
the Principal Beachmastei foi
conn the LCA, whose coxswain,
Royal Marine, did extremely well and avoided evervthing.
beached
to
run
about 0745 with a hundred
at
to the top of the
mortar
officer of the
with our parry

Lieutenant
fact
were
Hampshires.
who were
The
sitting quietly,
whom was
com-
the
continued up the beach
then deployed along the beachhead."
Whinney observed
the top of the beach.
We
yards
beach. There was considerable gun and
with resulting casualties, one of
fire,
manding
to a hundred-fifty
.1
strange sight as he got to
soldiers there
were not fighting and
in
if
on a holiday,
to realize that
they were the
gazing out
sea as
to
watching the scene unfold before them.

"It
took
few moments
.1
me
tor
Germans who'd been manning
the beach defenses." he said.
These soldiers were prisoners.

But while these soldiers were
were not
idle.
On Green
sitting,
other
from a large pillbox enfiladed the landing area
Hamel. Mortar
fire
German
forces
Beach, the westernmost beach, guns

just east of
Le
poured down onto the narrowing beach from
the waterline to the sand dunes.

"I
"as
stopped the clearance of beach obstacles," said Whinney.
no landing
enemy
lire,
The
knock
it
it
were beaching, and with the heavy surf and
was too
great a risk lor the personnel concerned."
lieutenant spotted a mortar in operation and tried to

out.
"I
German mortar
bomb down
The
craft
fire
directed a corporal with a Bren
crews.
a spout,
was
It's
knowing
effective
is
it
aimed
gun onto one
to see
in
of the
someone drop
to fire,
still light.
J.
DREZ
your direction."
and the mortar crew was forced
move. The pillbox continued
Beach was
unnerving
a bit
to
but resistance on Gold
Seaman Ronald Seaborne was
forward observer for naval
gunfire and landed almost unopposed. "By the time
was out
the beach effectively dealing with the straggling rifle fire
com-
ing from the defenses of La Riviere on the eastern flank of Gold
was surprising
Sector." he said. "It
that
any of the defenders
could have survived the preliminary battering from the rockets

dispatched from LCT(R)s and the zebra-striped Sabres and
I
had witnessed during the run
Royal Artillery captain, easily crossed the coastal road and then
back
signal
to
to
HMS
Belfast that the
cessfully attempted to signal Belfast. Eventually giving
up and
picking up his gear. Seaborne followed the captain's path only

to find that
he was alone.
for
me
[I
their
and English.
who.
is
men
the end of the
went towards them, they raised
by the Germans, had been forced
found the going

resistance
the
way
to the
was
difficult
war
OVERALL, THOUGH, THE
GERMANS WERE NOT
HEAVILY.
their
to act as
beach and waited
until they
Haye-c0i}
feeble once they
compared the landing
to
at
Gold Beach
were ashore. Fifteen of their
some damage, but many men
another practice exercise. There were
only four hundred casualties
landed
far right of
because of obstacles, but the German
sixteen landing craft received
among
Gold Beach, the
the twenty-five thousand
least of
any of the British inva-
sion beaches.
The one German
much
fortification that
of the day
was
had been most trouble-
finally silent as the
German
force
pulled back. The beach was quiet and clear as the invasion
force
EQUIPMENT DAMAGED.
of a type of Pioneer Corps maintaining the Atlantic
showed them
for
WOUNDED AND THEIR
heads and by a mixture of French, German,
The Royal Marines landing on the
some
TANKS, AND OTHERS WERE
in
were out of sight before proceeding."
men
SUFFERED DAMAGE. SOME
understood from them that they were Russians
after capture
members
Wall.
said Seaborne. "This
thought], but, as
hands above
ATTACHED MINES AND
DEFENDING THE REACH
"Suddenly, from a field ahead, emerged three
German uniforms,"
GERMAN OBSTACLES WITH
beach was
moved ahead while Seaborne unsuc-
secure. But the captain
THE LOTS HAD STRUCK
MEN WERE LOST WITH THEIR
in."
Seaborne's shore-fire party including a bombardier and a
stopped
UNSCATHED. TWENTY OF
were two hundred or so troops already on
of the water, there
Typhoons which
THE LANDING WAS NOT
moved
inland.
VOICES OF VALOR
"Things
THERE WERE ONLY FOUR
HUNDRED CASUALTIES
Beachmaster Whinnev. "and

Colonel Phipps and
AMONG THE
TWENTY-FIVE
i![iii^:i:iii.'u:ii:i:ii]ji]
AT GOLD REACH, THE LEAST
OF ANY OF THE BRITISH
and not
and
door,
was
all
to
the
afternoon."
was about 1700:
it
about to return
a noise in a cottage.
said
had met
an eerie feeling remained,
quiet, but
We were
a soul in sight.
when we heard
to the
beach,
The colonel rapped on
the
our astonishment, an old lady appeared, and
seemed quite unconcerned. She had apparently been
there
all
earning out her household chores as usual, although her
day,
INVASION REACHES.
down during
quieted
house was backed onto the pillbox

trouble
that
had caused us so much
day."
all
Meanwhile, the Canadian 3rd Division landed

Beach.
funo
at
experienced the same problem with the German obsta-
It
cles as the British Royal
landing scheduled
Marines
lor 074")
was
Cold, only more
at
so.
The
ten minutes late, delayed
by
offshore shoals, tricky tides and currents, and coxswains trying

to
pit k
through the already submerged obstacles
their paths
topped with mines. The mines took a heavy

cent
oi
the landing craft
even reached the beat

hall its force before
toll:
almost 30 per-
were destroyed or damaged before they
h.
Company D
of the Regina Rifles lost
they could unload.
The German defensive

approach. There was
force ashore
little fire
watched the Canadians
out to sea since most of the hard-
ened, casemated positions, as at
Omaha
Beach, had been laid
to
deliver enfilade fire along the long axis of the beach. This
deadly
would engage
fire
ashore. Farther inland, the
Germans had twenty
batteries of
support their small four-hundred-man force waiting
artillery to
to greet the
Unlike
the Canadians once they stepped
Canadians.
at
Omaha
Beach, the defenders
not have one-hundred-foot-high cliffs to
at
Juno Beach did
dominate the beach.
The defensive line was set in the beach houses and
in the
hard-
ened positions along the beach.

Trouble began for the Canadians before the landing
even got
to
the obstacles.
Harvey Williamson, assigned
Headquarters Troop,
DD
with lour other tanks.
He was Loaded
would go
Tanks, approached shore in an
off last.
craft
J.
DREZ
in the rear of the craft
to
LCT
and
Once the
initial
resistance
was
overcome, men and equipment
began streaming ashore at the

British and Canadian invasion
beaches.
"When
the
then see that
two tanks went
first
off into the sea,
they could
they were hundreds of yards from the beach, so
they tried to reinflate. That took eighteen minutes. They blew
up the screens and
as they
around knocking the drags

of the waves.
came up,
the
in so they could
commander went
withstand the forces
These tanks were holding everything up, and the
LCT had been hit. The naval commander ordered that tank to go
down the ramp and it went straight to the bottom. The one
behind got his screen up and took
for
pellers engaged,
and
first
tank
to get
away
me to go off. went into the sea, my proswam off to the shore."

ashore was a DD tank driven by Sergeant
and make room
The
and was able
off,
I
Gariepy of the Fort Garry Horse-10 Armored Regiment.
"More by accident than by design,

tank," said Gariepy
found myself the leading
"The Germans opened up with machine guns,
when we came to a halt on the beach, they realized we were a

tank when we pulled down our canvas skirt. Some of the machine
but
gunners stood up in their posts looking
at
us with their mouths
wide open. To see tanks coming out of the water shook them
rigid."
Sergeant Gariepy identified the concrete position enfilading

the beach.
He drove forward with
infantrv following in his tracks.
VOICES OF VALOR
159
THE GERMAN DEFENSIVE
FORCE ASHORE WATCHED THE
The Germans from
the houses peppered the beach, but the big
blockhouse was stymied by the limitations of
and Gariepy made sine
CANADIANS APPROACH.
THERE WAS LITTLE FIRE OUT
"I
POSITIONS, AS AT
OMAHA
"The
ALONG THE L0H6 AXIS OF
thing
first
field of fire
killing zone.
firing at
almost point-blank range."
saw going in was one landing
sunk." said Sergeant Stanley
Dudka
of the North
craft
Nova
Highlanders. "There was a British soldier saluting as
being
Scotia
was
it
going down. He was standing on the bow.
REACH, HAD REEN LAID TO

DELIVER ENFILADE FIRE
own
its
he stayed out of the
took the tank up to the emplacement, very, very close,
and destroyed the gun by
TO SEA SIHCE MOST OF
HARDENED, CASEMATED
that
"Our instructions were
and
to
break through
immediately
hit-
we
ting the
beach
had
but to get to Carpiquet Airport, and to consolidate
to.
to stop at nothing, not to fight unless
Carpiquet Airport."
THE REACH.
Lance Corporal
Winnipeg
it
approached the beach
Rifles
LCI had been
H. Hamilton of the Third Battalion, Royal
J.
slammed back
was lowered
into the water
and one
damaged. The crippled LCI limped

ened
damaged
in a
into the ship by the
to
LCI.
The
wave action
of the twin engines
as
was
shore as the waves threat-
to sink the vessel.
"Because of lack of power, we were being swamped by heavy

Arromonches-
waxes. The waves were so high, they were washing over our land-
and our
ing craft,
He was
casualty
first
very, very seasick.
wave washed him
off,
"We were being

was second
in
was Rifleman Andrew
He was
lying on the
and he went down.
C.
Munch.
gunwale and the
We never saw him
again.
heavily fired upon approaching the coast.
our section, and the lad
in
front of
me was
Rifleman Phillip Gianelli, and as the ramp went down, he took

.1
hurst ot
of me.
machine-gun
fire in his
stomach.
He had been ahead
wasn't touched by that burst. Then; was a tracer in
and you could see
it
coming
to
us
he was
Hamilton crossed the beach only
to
he
killed instantly."
wounded
himself,
patched up, and wounded again and evacuated a month
The
first
wave
of Canadians
defenses as they worked their
<md
felt
the full fury of the
way through
Winnipeg
Rifles
was reduced
twenty-five men.
J.
DREZ
later.
German
the beach obstacles
into the killing field of the enfilading guns.
the Royal
it
to
Company B
one
officer
of
and
Among
the most unusual equipment
the British brought ashore were the
specialized armored vehicles

collectively
known as "Hobart's
Funnies." These included the

tank,
shown
to clear
U't^&^^^M
Wilfred Bennett, with the Royal Winnipeg Rifles, landed in
an LCA.
"Our commander was a good

Rupert Fultz of Winnipeg. The
ramp went down was 'OK

deep as
they
all hell
fell
last
boys,
broke loose.
my
hit the
falling
on the beach. The machine-gun
name was Major
His
heard from him as our
We
let's go.'
Men were
buddy, Kelly McTier, was on
face
soldier.
order
fire
water waist
on the water, and
was so
devastating.
was shot
in the
and a PIAT.
A fel-
right [and]
and the neck."

Bennett struggled ashore carrying his
low soldier carried

devastating
fire
six
bombs
for
on the Winnipeg
it.
Rifles
Canadians down until the pillbox was

"After
we
rifle
A German
pillbox delivered
and continued
to cut the
finally destroyed.
crossed Juno Beach," said Bennett, "we took
thir-
teen machine guns out of that pillbox, along with nine dead
German
soldiers.
direct their
ine
how
the fire
fire.
The Germans were using
As one
bullet in five
bullet-filled that
was coming from
was
tracer bullets to
a tracer, one can imag-
beach was. As we crossed the beach,

a ten o'clock position
and the
air
was
yellow with tracer bullets."
VOICES OF VALOR
161
here, which
landmines.
flail
was used
THE FIRST THING
Bennett
SAW
G0IN6 IN WAS ONE LANDING
ened.
tire
CRAFT BEING SUNK.
IT
WAS GOING DOWN. HE WAS

STANDING ON THE BOW."
SERGEAMT
it
across,
into the
and once past the beach, the
fire slack-
town behind the beach, and although the
was behind them, snipers picked
the invading troops.
at
they approached a small cemetery, a sniper opened
THERE WAS A BRITISH

SOLDIER SALUTING AS
made
He moved
"One trouble spot was an open gateway
to a
up
When
again.
churchyard in
We were having trouble getting

one PIAT bomb into the belfry of that
old stone
church, blowing the back portion of the belfry away.
We were
Bernieres-sur-Mer.
area.
released
able to proceed with
little
trouble from then on."
"There was tremendous congestion
STANLEY DUDKA
Sergeant Dudka. "To your

ing at the
we were
Mer.
and
left
to
limited,
along the beaches." said
all
your
same time and vehicles coming
narrow and very
past this
right
were troops land-
The roads were very
in.
and when we got ashore
at
Bernieres-sur-
held up there for approximately three hours."
By midmorning. the Canadians held Bernieres-sur-Mer. and

several hours later the} occupied Saint Aubin.
While they did
not reai h their ambitious goal to capture Carpiquel Airport, the
Canadians did
briefly
the Caen-Bayeaux road
interdict
and
linked up with the British 50th Division from Gold Beach.
But success had not been without

suffered
1,200
Beach, a ratio equal
"Coming
(.
was
21.400 attacking Juno

at
the beach area, the narrow
oil
number
The Canadians had
cost.
of the
those grim statistics
to
H. Hamilton, "the
there
out
casualties
first
Omaha
sandy beach." said
thing that really struck
me was
It
McCrae:
crosses,
struck
In
me
then of a
poem
that
we
learned
Flanders fields the poppies blow
row on
row.'
that
of Canadian-Scottish that had been killed.
The) were laying about and the red poppies were

then.
Beach.
That certainly struck
in
in
bloom
school by
Between the
me when
seeing the
Canadian-Scottish laying dead amongst the red poppies blooming in the wind."
Sword Beach was
the easternmost beach of the five Allied
Its left
flank
was
and the Caen Canal next
to the
town
invasion beaches.
eight kilometers to the west,

entire area
at
the
mouth
of the
of Ouistreham.
was the town
DOUGLAS BRINKI.EY AND RONALD
J.
DREZ
Orne River
right Hank,
of Lyon-sur-Mer.
was dotted with vacation homes and
establishments behind a seawall.
Its
tourist
The
beach
Most important, Sword Beach was only nine miles north

the
hub
city of
Caen.
It
was
of
and the
a key city for both the Allies
Axis for maneuver and transportation. The German defenses

could only be described as
emplacements
The
in the
with beach obstacles and
light,
sand dunes.
.ry
Sword Beach
British 3rd Division assaulted
with French and British
commandos
The
at
attached.
0730,
objective
was Caen. The attached commandos under Lord Lovat were

fight
way
their
the bridges seized at midnight by John
to
Howard's glider-borne
The invading
force.
forces
were greeted with moderate
0800 many units were already
The
inland.
South
the right, Suffolk Regiment in the center,

left
easily
but by
fire,
beaches and fighting
off the
three assaulting regiments
Regiment on the
to
Lancashire on
and East Yorkshire
suppressed the German
fire
and
pushed forward.
Webb was
Entienne Robert
a
German
obstacle.
in
an
"We caught one
LCA
going in
the bottom of the craft like a tin can opener."
He was
surprised to see that
"There was
all this activity,
men
dashing around, and
craft
and
just
it
moving
Bill
struck
it
ripped
Webb swam
ashore.
all.
bugles sounding, bagpipes playing,
beach as
if it
There was no fighting on the beach, none

Corporal
it
and
did not look like a war at
commandos coming
off the
when
of those obstacles
was
Sergeant Stanley Dudka of the Nova

Scotia Highlanders attacked with the
Canadian force
in off the landing
Sunday
at all. It
was
afternoon.
all
inland."
Bowdidge, Company D, Royal Warwickshire
Regiment, had more trouble with his equipment than with the
Germans. Caen was the objective, and Bowdidge was surprised

to
be given a bicycle.
"The original idea was
D Company
like mad
D Company members
when C Company all had
should cycle
behind the Sherman tanks into Caen.
were called up on deck of the ship
disembarked. Then they called on us

the bikes, but not
"It
tically,
was
many
difficult to get a bike
down
in the
deep water.
beach while wearing a

feet off the
to
come up and unstrap
bikes got ashore.
down
We
with the ramp hanging ver-
couldn't get our feet onto the
Mae West since
the
Mae West was taking my
bottom, and [you] really had to sort of push with your
VOICES OF VALOR
163
at
Juno Beach.
hands
paddle.
made
finally
and we were completely wet
it.
absolutely soaked, and the beach was sandy, making

thing to get the bicycles ashore.
got
it
a difficult
mine ashore, somehow."
But instead of confronting German soldiers. Bowdidge was

surprised to see a French
"The
was
young
was helping
armband,
on
girl,
helping with the wounded.
girl
French person
first
saw was
actually on the beach.
casualties
on the beach. She had on
white armband,
witli a
homemade
homemade
painted red cross
and she was making herself useful on the beach.
it
It
seventeen or eighteen, with a bicycle, and she
It
was
quite extraordinary."
men
Corporal Bowdidge and the
way
to a
of his section
rendezvous point, and found
made
their
that of all the bicycles
NCO
and he was the only
issued, only six or seven got ashore,
with a bicycle.
"The company commander decided

the bicycles, so he gave
down
pedaling off
and we
them
the road,
set off cross-country,
right at the tail
because
didn't keep
we climbed
wood, and
it
was going
reverted to marching troops,
pushing the bicycles.
we were
the bicycles formed for long after that.
was quite dense undergrowth
wood, and we
in the
my men
just told
to
on the beach was Jacqueline Xoel, who had gone
girl
house a week before.
"I
I
man
last
killed in
an
It
was important
air raid,
had given
to
left in a
her since her
When
to her.
it
of
throw them away."
the beach that day to retrieve a bathing suit she'd
to the
were
over these cemetery walls, and then through
the marching troops, so
who was
We
going.
were having serious trouble keeping contact with the
The
have
to
section. So instead of
end of the company, hanging on and following
them, not knowing where
"We
we
thai
my
to
all
to
bathsister,
she got
beach, she could not turn back.
had the Red Cross thing since
was
a student nurse,
and
stayed there on the beach between Hermanville and Colleville,
to
help with the
house
until
"When
you
wounded and
two days
I
just can't
saw
after.
all
the rest.
There was
that invasion fleet,
imagine
if
J.
DREZ
didn't go
a lot to
it
do
back
to the
there.
was something which
you haven't seen
it.
And
it
was
boats,
Moving inland, British commandos

would find armed resistance in the
towns they aimed to liberate. Here
Number
the
in
town
boats, boats,
and boats
know.
my
If
had been
at the
And you
planes coming over.
arms down, and
German,
The commandos pushed

Masters, normally of
attached to
Troop,
mean,
it
had been
would have looked
said, that's
it.
don't
at this,
put
Finished."
beaches quickly. Peter
off the
Number 3 Troop, 10th Commandos, was

6 Commando on D-Day He had formerly
been Peter Arany of Vienna, Austria, of Jewish extraction.
In
1938 things under the Nazis had gotten so bad that his family
tried to get out. Fourteen
efforts of
members were
an aunt in London, the
rest
able to flee through the
perished in Auschwitz.
Masters was attached to Captain Robinson's
which was
a bicycle troop
and promised
As he headed down the ramp

rucksack,
Tommy gun,
to
Number
Troop,
be the most active
unit.
of his landing craft, he carried his
two hundred spare rounds, and
his bicycle.
"Our objective was Benoueville, and the bridges across the
Orne Canal which were

hours before.
to
have been seized by the paratroopers
carried two ropes to tow dinghies across the
Orne should the bridges be blown. The order on which the
VOICES OF VALOR
Commando
of Ouistreham.
end, boats at the back, and the
just
house-to-house fighting
165
r-.
is
engaged
in
the
had been
greatest stress
just
moved up where
was
laid
was
there
the dunes just off the sand part of the beach
They
past them.
We
so
we
walked across
and passed
few
We had
been
beach and our Captain Robinson went
right
what are you doing?' But we
said.
we
fellows sweeping for mines, but

told to get off the
And
'Get off the beach.'
a little dune.
said. 'Hey.
couldn't wait.
"Sorry about that, fellows. We've got to go.'"
Moving
beach, the
off of the
way through Ouistreham and

into the countryside.
beach.
When
The bridges were about
worked
first
their
and then out
three miles off the
they got into the countryside, the terrain opened
up and the troop was able

Alter
commandos
the built-up area
to
mount
their bicycles.
had been riding the bicycles
they
for
while.
Robinson sent Masters alone into the village of La Port with

orders
what he could
see
to
Although feeling much
see.
exposed, the young trooper walked toward the town, turning

even, so often to see his
a
commander waving
movie he had seen. The
Flynn and Cary Grant,
always thought
Masters, "and
it
Peter Masters, born an Austrian,
fought against Nazism as part

of the British
commandos.
the top of
linger
came
it
my
on the
'You're
that
to
me
is
all
under
precise
arrest."
moment. So
yelled
walked down the road, with
my tommy
shouted in German. "Gome out of
war
recalled
be quite a funny line," said
at this
voice while
trigger of
le
superior force overwhelmed
line.
to
of a Bengal Lancer, with Errol
fust before a
them. Grant uttered the

"1
Life
turn on.
it!
my
gun. 'Everybody out!'
Give yourselves up! The
over for you! You don't have; a chance unless you surren-
der now!' But
saw no one. No one came
Instead, a few
Germans
out."
tired at Masters,
who
returned
fire
and was joined by Captain Robinson's charging troop and two

tanks that
made
short
work
of the resistance.
As the troop
approached the vicinity of the bridges, Masters saw
white
window along with colored aerSome airborne men who had been iso-
flag waving out of an upper

ial
recognition scarves.
lated from their units trickled out of their hiding [daces to

join the
commandos. Although
hundred yards
Howard's
166
farther,
the bridges were only two
no one could
force.
J.
DREZ
tell
them the
fate of
##
me commandos
"We turned
the corner by the
town
hall," said Masters,
"and
there they were, and the maroon-bereted fellows gave a sigh of

relief at the sight of
were
for the bridges
almost onto the bridges.
screamed
the
their
On
seemed
force
and
either side of the road,
have come,' said the glider people
who popped
to
no
faces
The commandos
less relieved para-
out of the hedges in their camouflage
all
along the road."
The
attack
attack
on Sword Beach was
as successful as the
American
on Utah Beach. The flanks of the invasion area were
secured.
The
thousand
British 3rd Division
men on D-Day
with
just
had landed over twenty-nine

over six hundred casualties.
The commandos had linked up with the bridge
force
Caen was
still
six
weeks from
falling, this
was
and although
good
start.
VOICES OF VALOR
up with members of the

who had
landed earlier on D-Day.
berets. For a while.
bicycles.
link
British 6th Airborne Division
have crash-landed
to
welcome from under maroon
news almost kept up with our
chutists
find the gliders of John
our green berets. The feeling was mutual,

intact. Gliders
moving inland would

Howard's
soon
167
Ch apter
12
THE AFTERMATH
As darkness
fell
on June
6.
was successfully
1944, the invasion
ashore. Almost 175,000 Allied soldiers had crossed the five beaches
jumped
or
into the flanking parachute drop zones.
There had been
over 10.000 reported killed, wounded, and missing (many missing

paratroopers later turned up). Despite the overall success of the day,
the invasion force
were
thin,
was vulnerable
many
with
objectives. General
German
to
gaps. In few places
counterattack.
lines
Its
had the attack reached
Eisenhower now faced the race
to
its
build up his
landing force into a strong army capable of breaking out of the lodg-
ment
area.
many opinions were discussed in restaurants and meeting

Members of the Resistant e listened to the radio and conversations.
In Paris that evening,
bars and salons.
"The next morning came the
Normandy.
We
have
twenty-four hours
oi
German
official
Resistance fighter Henry Goldsmit.
""The Allies
inflicted terrible casualties
all
special bulletin over the air," said
have made
to the
enemy
landing attempt
on them and are convinced
their divisions will be eliminated.
France that any assistance
places,
We
in
that within
are warning the population
will be treated as a
war crime and punished
by death.'
Disk
2,
Tracks 27-29:
Liberation
OPPOSITE: A Coast Guard photographer found this monument to

fallen soldier, reminding all who saw it of the losses suffered in
and remembrance
the invasion.
Dec. 7,1941
Jan. 15, 1944
June
4,
1944
June
5,
0015-0300
1944
Japan attacks
Pearl Harbor;
American
enlist-
ments increase
becomes supreme
operatives
in
makes decision
in
Normandy
(British
to the east, then
Americans
to the west)
"-**
0730-0745
0930-1330
British
iroops
Utah and
Rangers
Gold, Sword,
Omaha
scale Pointe
Beaches
du Hoc
and Juno
Beaches
advance
commandos
ive beach-
heads secured;
meet airborne
troops at Orne
meets 101st
inland from
Airborne at
Omaha
liberation
bridges
Pouppeville
Beach
under way
inland
made
"I
it
my
business
my
have
to
dinner that night
in a
German
restaurant and listened to different opinions of the
enlisted
men. To
my
surprise
learned
the
that
majority
believed the military reports and were convinced that the
would not only
Allies
and destroy the

the miracle
the
fail
was ready
that Hitler
to
weapon.
also took every opportunity to listen to
BBC, and heard an entirely
nlties
different story.
Commander,
Allied Expeditionary
watches landing operations

from the deck of a warship off the
Force,
French coast. This picture

7,
is
dated June
1944. At this point, the Allies had
secured the beachhead but were

vulnerable to an organized
still
German
counteroffensive.
in spite of
They sounded
some
and casualties things were going according
The
Dwight Eisenhower, Supreme Allied
Allied
means
entire island within days. Wiinderwajfe
very optimistic and reported that

(
invasion attempt but also
in their
launch the Wiinderwajfe on England
attack
had been
initial diffi-
to plan."
complete surprise. The
Germans had been caught napping. They had misread

weather charts and made the wrong prediction:
mander had gone on
shown up
holiday; their air force
the
com-
and navy had not
to attack the biggest target in the history of warfare,
and spy operation had
the armada. Although their intelligence

leverly identified the
attack
their high
code winds announcing the time of the
and although the commander
appropriately, the
commander
Pas-de-Calais had reacted
at
Normandy had
of the forces at
missed his great opportunity.
The Abwehr had been completely outwitted by

intelligence, especially the British
ning
tales of deceit
had been deceived
SOE and
special agents, spin-
and double-cross. The German
into believing that
the Allied
command
Eisenhower had twice the
strength that he actually possessed, and that the invasion
come
still
at
Pas-de-Calais.
As D-Day came
to
would
an end the Allies were
telling their tantalizing tales.
Having hurled the massive invasion force
hundred miles
across the English Channel in oik; throw of the dice, and having
established a tentative foothold
France, Eisenhower
in
now
sought to perpetuate Operation Fortitude, the deception plan to

conceal the secrets of the invasion.
Fortitude to continue to confuse the
nificance of the
Normandy
It
became
task of
the
Germans regarding
the sig-
attack.
Because of inflated numbers, the Germans believed the

Allies capable of launching a
170
second invasion when,
J.
DREZ
in truth,
Captured German officers aboard

U.S. Coast
relieved that their battle
Operation Neptune Overlord had no backup plan.

nothing for 1944.
If
attempted until 1945.
the invasion failed
And
if
defeat the Allied forces that
June
6. that
defeat
the
it
It
was
all
or
could not again be
German Army could somehow
had scratched out
would be worse than
if
a foothold
on
the invasion had
failed at the water's edge.
Despite
all
German Army
of
its
still
failures
and incompetence on D-Day. the
possessed the forces capable of inflicting a
last-minute defeat on the Allies.
These were the massive
armored divisions within three days

battlefield.
travel to the
Normandy
There were over sixteen hundred panzers in the
west that could be sent speeding
to the battle area if Hitler
issued the order to "Initiate Case Three."
If
these forces could be
brought into the battle area from their dispersed positions in

France before the British and American forces could build up,
they were capable of delivering devastating blows on the flanks
and seams
of the loose-knit Allied front.
VOICES OF VALOR
171
P-
Guard transport appear

is
over.
To enhance the deception, the military dnd
words
carefully chose their
They couched
their
to
comment on
enthusiasm
for
D-Day
6.
words designed
to
in
convey an anticipation of the great attack yet

At
(H)
political Leaders
the events of June
come.
to
on D-Day, Eisenhower's headquarters released the
information announcing the Landings. At 1000. the general was
on the
The
announcing
air
emphasizing the
Even the
Norway and Belgium

attack at
initial
rituals followed
Commons were
not
the Long-awaited
were an
that the Landings
exiled leaders of
initial assault.
followed, each
Normandy.
in
Parliament in the House of
abandoned on June 6
to hint that this
the opposite
i\a\. In fact, just
was
play of calm and unruffled order that must have been

ing to
all
anxious
its
who had
House plodded painstakingly through
tor details, the
order of business.
House began with

concerned with
and some announcements, the
customary hour of questions, mostly
its
housing construc-
soldiers' rights, benefits,
and hours
tion,
employment
of
supporter
service, with
tor his
berets
lor
the
one dissenter being rebuked by
k ol gallantrj
Lai
service canteens, etc.
in
debate even ensued concerning new
livel\
women's army
combed
madden-
heard Eisenhower's announcement and were
Alter an opening prayer
After the battle, the Allies
was
true. In a dis-
opposing the incisure.
in
through equipment and documentation

left
behind by the Germans. Here
members
Battalion
of the U.S. Navy
examine
The hour dragged
2nd Beach
a radio-controlled
"beetle" tank captured at Utah Beach.
Finally
at
on.
Chun
noon.
everyone moved
to the
hill
entered
edge of his
the
chamber and
seat, but still tin;
prime
minister played the nonchalant attitude to the fullest.
spoke
days
first
of the Allied success in the liberation of
earlier,
glorious
He
Rome two
then spoke for an agonizing ten minutes on the
event
United
of
States'
Army
Fifth
freeing
the
Eternal City.
After the ten minutes, he paused. His pause
than normal.
When
almost offhandedly,
this
morning, the
he began again
first
with a statement about
to
announce,
and early hours of
of a series of landings in force
Continent of Europe has taken place
172
was
it
that, "'during the night
was longer
."
His speech ended
a "succession of surprises."
DOUGLAS BRINKLEYAND RONALD
J.
DREZ
on the
how
But
long could the deception last? Hitler had not
initi-
ated Case Three despite requests from Field Marshal Rundstedt
commanding German
see
if
forces in the west.
He wanted
to
wait to
a second Allied landing materialized before committing
his reserves.
on the morning of June
Finally,
Command
the
8,
German High
concluded, through captured documents, that this
was the invasion, and
Hitler initiated Case Three. Seventeen
would now move
reserve divisions
to the
Normandy
battle-
ordered 360 tanks and thirty-five thousand
field. Hitler also
men from
the Ninth and Tenth
SS Panzer Divisions
Poland
move
to arrive in the battle area in
to
to
Normandy,
in central
three weeks.
But the immediate threat
Normandy beachhead was
to the
moving from
the set of forces
Pas-de-Calais. To counter that
tempo
move, Eisenhower ordered an increase
in the
message
Germans
was
traffic,
again to convince the
of Fortitude
that
Normandy
a diversion.
Real and
dummy
alert
now
messages were
broadcast to
Resistance groups just as had been done before the invasion.
Around Dover,
real
and
dummy
ships and vehicles high-
lighted increased activity at the port. Agents such as "Garbo"

(a
code name) sent new message
feigning
traffic
new
revela-
was Pas-de-Calais. The

maximum. Double-agent
tions indicating that the real objective

Allies cranked Fortitude
up
to the
U.S.
Navy hospital corpsman takes
moment
message
ranking
traffic
was fed
officials
to the
including
Germans reporting
Churchill,
that high-
Eisenhower,
the
and
General George Marshall himself had visited General Patton's

headquarters
One
at
Dover.
agent reported five airborne divisions and ten seaborne
divisions. Patton's
army would have
fifty divisions.
This crush of traffic, sightings, and reports of Allied
was too seductive
for the
Germans
to ignore.
movement
They predicted
probable second landing on June 10. The flood of information
was fed
to
Adolf
Hitler,
who pondered
convinced. At midnight on June

Calais
9, Hitler
it
all
and was himself
cancelled Case Three.
would be strengthened. The following
dav, the Allies
VOICES OF VALOR
173
to write a letter from
Normandy beaches.
one of
"
Allied troops
moved
inland after
D-Day, liberating French towns and

villages from their
Here
German occupiers.
still) a group of
American soldiers poses with a Nazi
flag and sword they have captured.
(in
a rare film
consolidated their multilanding beachheads into

stretching sixty miles across the
movement
Hut despite canceling the

Hitler did
Normandy
a single front
coast.
of the forces at Calais,
have other units moving toward Normandy. Forces
from the Riviera and Brittany were advancing. Especially tron-
was
bling
It
the powerful
Second SS Panzer Division, Das Raich.
consisted of twenty thousand hattle-hardened veterans and

tanks and assault guns.
2.38
Montauban
Its
and
it
slow
it
in the
It
just
outside of
southwest of France.
was expected
route to the battle area
became the
was stationed
target of British
SOE, F Section,
down. Because of the shortage of
to the railroad to try to
move
interdiction of the railroad
its
to take three days,
fuel.
to attack
tanks. But the destruction
had been
and
Das Reich turned
a specialty of
and
Anthony
Brooks, code-named "Pimento.
Brooks had received his action message on June

laisse tic re tranquil"
the rail lines
and had
set
about
"Tetty
on
between Toulouse and Montauban. The success
of his clandestine sabotage on the rail lines
174
5,
to stop all traffic
J.
and special
DREZ
IW
borne out by the lack of transportation available
railcars is
to
Das Reich.
"They
SECURED THEIR LODGMENT,

move on
started to
ing of the 8th," said Brooks.
the night of the 7th or early morn-
"They had
which had
half-tracks,
light-
weight guns, which they moved out almost immediately But the
tanks didn't start moving into
the
else,
they tried to go off on to the
Then they abandoned those and
had
left.
and
the}'
THE FATE OF THE GERMAN
ARMY WAS
Montauban marshaling yard before
morning of the 8th and then because the
everything
ONCE EISENHOWERS ARMIES
were back on the road
in the
lines
flats,
were blown and
the few
flats
ways,
tried various other
Montauban
they
area and going
north out of the Montauban area by road on the 9th."
Brooks's job had been to "force the blighters on the roads,"
and
them he
force
Das Reich was now subject
did.
ing attacks of a dozen

aircraft
on
its
maquis and the deadly,
to the delay-
strafing Allied
route to Normandy.
"The rule was always: Make
weapons on
piece
constricted
with
a violent attack
of
road,"
all
your
Morris
said
Buckmaster, the head of F Section. "Don't get involved in long

fighting.
Do
later time.
party,
mosquito attack
Each group,
went up
further,
as
it
ahead of them. They created
Normandy
fighting at
The maquis paid
its
task of
at a
ambushing
and joined and strengthened the group
panzer division, and indeed,

the
sting and sting again, but
completed
a very great deal of
havoc
in the
panzer division never got into
that
all."
huge price
for their attacks
by provoking
crushing reprisals by Das Reich. But instead of three days, Das

Reich arrived on the battlefield on
D + 17
(seventeen days past
D-Day), too late to participate in the battle against the buildup

of the Allied force.
It
also arrived
minus scores
and had suffered an estimated four thousand
Once Eisenhower's armies secured

fate of the
was
German Army was
of
its
panzers
casualties.
their lodgment, the
sealed. Securing that
lodgment
combination of planning, expertise, deception, and
delaying attacks by the ruthless French maquis and other

Resistance units. In
German
forces.
ceased to
all
phases the Allies had trumped the
Eleven months
after
D-Day, the Third Reich
exist.
VOICES OF VALOR
.e&Pimi&tSPan
SEALED.
EPILOGUE
On
the sixtieth anniversary of the Allied invasion of
simple code word
D-Dayhas
become
prevailing symbol
the
And
American-style democracy prevailing over tyranny.
become the name

in the Central
tells
museum
of a
in
New Orleans.
more than 100.000 Allied
and the nearly 10.000 who died, on the

II
was not won on June
diately following.
The
how by
listening booths
soldiers: for
example,
the second
wave
at
soldiers
brutal
swept ashore,
day of
fighting.
Julv 25 the Allies
men such
as Felix Branhaur.
Omaha Beach
But
imme-
had bro-
to Berlin.
who went
as a demolition
who
man
as captain
Infantry served as the regimental dental surgeon.

is
Museum
At the
you can hear the voices of our citizen
Division, or Dr. Bernard S. Feinberg,
remember
of
has also
1944. or even in the weeks
6,
visitor learns
first
Located near Lee Circle
ken out of Normandy and started on the long journey
museum in
it
Business District (CBD), the National D-Day
the story of the
World War
Normandv,
What
is
ashore in
29th
for the
in
the
116th
important
to
that during the year following June 6, the valor continued.
But in any study of the historical dimensions of D-Day, one man's contributions outshine
all
the others.
Museum
gol
And he was
not even officially
in
the U.S. military. Until the National
under way. the name of Andrew Jackson Higgins had largely faded from American
memory. Long ago
this
master boatbuildei and industrialist had been dismissed by his
social elite as a crude, hard-drinking outsider lacking
charm. But
176
D-Day
at the
museum,
his truly
Herculean
feat of
J.
Old South manners and Garden
city's
District
building 20.094 boats for the Allied cause
DREZ
1*^
during World War
Normandy,
The
II
is
not forgotten
liberated Sicily, fought
history of World
and Nimitz.
War
field generals
Eisenhower. But World War

ble by industrial might
II
nor
is
on flyspeck
Pacific Islands, or
was not won only on the
and mobilization on the home
the B-24 airplanes built in
which Charles Lindbergh
invaded North Africa.
often tends to focus on the leaders
such as Patton and Clark,

II
by the veterans who stormed
forgotten
it
Henry
Ford's eight-acre
Canyon
called the "Grand
troops on the ground to win a war. and
designed and produced the landing
craft
To put Higgins's accomplishment
it
admirals such as King
strategists
such as Marshall and
battlefield. Victory
front.
Much
was made
Willow Run Creek plant near

of the
possi-
has been written about

Detroit,
mechanized world." But
was Higgins Industries
in
New
it
takes
Orleans that
LCPs. LCPLs, LCVPs, LCMs that got them there.
in perspective,
consider
this:
By September 1943,
12,964 of the United States Navy's 14,072 vessels had been designed by Higgins Industries.
Put another way. 92 percent of the U.S.
for small boats
in 1943. "But
Navy was
Higgins navy "Higgins's assembly line
broke precedents." FDR's former adviser
it
is
Higgins himself
who
Raymond Moley wrote

away
takes your breath
products and his fantastic ability to multiply his products
at
as
much
in
Newsweek
as his remarkable
headlong speed. Higgins
is
an
authentic master builder, with the kind of will power, brains, drive and daring that characterized the
American empire builders
Who was
this
of an earlier generation."
master builder? Born in 1886. and tossed of out of school for brawling,
Higgins managed to complete three years

to join the
in
New
own
Creighton High Prep School before dropping out
Orleans in 1910 managing a lumber-exporting firm. Before long he organized his
Lumber and Export Company, which
business, the A.J. Higgins
cypress blocks around the world.
He
also imported
sold pine planks and
hardwoods from Central America,
and the Philippines.
Africa,
The
roots of Higgins's
to carry his lumber. In
wartime success lay in the
1937 Higgins owned one
people worked. By the time Japan

in a
at
National Guard. Drifting around the Gulf Coast states, he eventually landed a job
warehouse behind
turing plant in
bombed
his St. Charles
fleet of
little
Pearl Harbor,
New
schooners and brigantines he built

Orleans boatyard where
fifty
he was designing prototype landing
Avenue showroom and owned
or so
craft
a massive boat-manufac-
New Orleans. A perfectionist obsessed with good workmanship,
he was also posi-
tioned to accelerate rapidly his shipyard production to produce shallow-draft watercraft, or even
aircraft
whatever was needed. "The sad
And
state of war,"
more than twenty thousand workers able

labor pool diminished by the
numbers
of
to
said, "has
made
it
my duty to
build."
produce seven hundred boats a month. With a
young men
equal-opportunity employer by default, hiring
capped
he
build he did. Higgins Industries expanded into eight citywide plants, employing
anyone he could find
to
enlisted or drafted, Higgins
women,
build boats. Everyone
became an
blacks, the elderly, the handi-
who had
the
same
job
VOICES OF VALOR
was paid the
1JJ
home
same wage. Together they
set
the government's highest
award
In his
front production records.
company
for a
Winning the Army-Navy "E"
was commonplace for Higgins Industries.
book Andreiv Jackson Higgins and the Boats That Won World War
Strahan recounts the frenetic boatbuilding mania that swept over the Port of
historian
II.
New
(em
E.
Orleans under
the Higgins name. Higgins Industries constructed two kinds of military craft during the war: high-
speed
PT boats, and
light tanks,
June
and
various tvpes of steel-and-wood landing craft to transport fully armed troops,
field artillery.
not have been a
mass landing
Pacific islands, at least not
No
war
It
was
this latter class of
body
that
made
the
D-Day Landing
of
1944. feasible. "Without Higgins's uniquely designed (raft." writes Strahan. "there could
6,
less
for us,"
1943 that
and materiel on European shores or the beaches
of troops
an authority than General Eisenhower agreed. Higgins

he
man who won
were enough LCVPs
the
March
buried, his "coffin should he in the shape of a landing craft, as they
are practically killing [me] with worry." Hut a year

(or
Liter,
because of Higgins Industries, there
"Higgins Boats." as soldiers called them) for Ike
invasion with one less worn. "Let us thank
which has given us the landing boats w

that year in his
"the
is
said. Ike"s personal assistant Harrj Bull her recalled his boss's saying in
when he was
of the
without a tremendously higher rate of Allied casualties."
ith
God
Thanksgiving Day address. So
that a disgruntled Adolf Hitler called
him
for
whi h to
the
m<
to
plan the D-Day
Higgins Industrie's' management and Labor

i
onduct our campaign." he
told the nation
was Higgins's amphibious warfare
La]
craft
"new Noah."
Andrew Jackson Higgins may have been short on social graces, hut he was a production
genius when his nation most needed him. His motto was "The Hell Can't." and he always
I
far
exceeded expectations. The profane, no-nonsense Higgins uncomplainingly worked
teen-hour days throughout the war.

ers, foolish
admirals, and
New
sailor.
There was no polish
vision
and the
England shipbuilders, he never
to his talk or
enormous contributions
Higgins's genius
is
enough removed from
exists,
but there are
its
the history of this
all citizens." It
exhibits at the National
I78
many
a U.S. soldier or
a boatbuilder with a
New
Orleans
local old-timers
in
1952,
who remember
war
is
finally written."
Captain
K. R.
M.
forces in North Africa, wrote during the war, "by historians
list
of those
who
D-Day Museum,
a great
Andrew Jackson Higgins
J.
predict that
to the
remarkable
American boatbuilder and the workers he

is
permanently enshrined as
effective armorers in America's "arsenal of democracy."
deserve the commendation and
took more than a half-century, but now, thanks
will never again be forgotten.
one of the most
down
present turmoil and clamor to be cool and impartial,
they will place Mr. Higgins very high on the
employed
let
He was
receiving wider recognition, as predicted long ago by one contem-
who relied on him. "When

Emmett, who commanded landing
gratitude of
gait.
to the Allied victory.
now
porary
far
elegance to his
ability to turn that vision into reality. Higgins died in
and Higgins Industries no longer

its
If
six-
he bitched about Washington bureaucrats, union lead-
DREZ
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Over the years we have lectured
we
to
What does
usually ask this question:
with D-Day? The answers are many.

of ships, or planes, or soldiers, or
day in Normandy. Of course,

36,525 refers to the
number
those days must rise above
October
many about D-Day. Along the line
Some
enemy
all
the
number 36,525 have
guess that
do
was the number
defenders, or casualties on that
The number
of those are incorrect.
of days in each century.
all
it
to
others in importance.
By
nature, one of
Who can argue that
1066 was "the" day of the eleventh century as the Battle of
14,
Hastings forever changed the course of western civilization? The eigh-
was
teenth century's day
July
4,
1776, the day of the Declaration of
Independence and the birth of the American nation, and a new cradle
of
freedom
for
people of the world. In the nineteenth century, July
1863, the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania decided once and for

that the United States
would remain one nation and not
The twentieth century produced

on June
28, 1919: the stock
number
of important dates: the
split into
end
the
end
6,
1944.
to
years. This
fall
It
Adolf
book
was
"the" day of the twentieth century.
Hitler's
is
made
all
two.
World War
market crash on October 29, 1929; the announcement of the Salk
vaccine for polio on April 12, 1955. But none of those dates can compare
of June
of
3,
It
was the day
to the
importance
of the beginning of
Nazi terror that had gripped the people of Europe for eleven long
possible by the Allied warriors
and by those who were gracious enough
to
who
brought about the Nazi down-
donate their stories so that the day will
for-
ever live in freedom's memory.
VOICES OF VALOR
179
This book
is
Over the years
his generous contributions to the
New
University of
Orleans allowed us
ofD-Day and
tories
S.
dedicated to the indomitable Peter
a stalwart
is
Currently a founding
proven
civic
his
member
commitment
and
to historical
its
tor
made
this
institution.
receive the
first
fessor ol history
Ambrose
made
(as
one. Nit
.it
II
selfless
the University ol
New
6.
2000. Nick has
Research Historian Betsy Loren Plum
future.
Museum
is
lost in
at
well, his kindness

lor years to
the University of
New
and
come.
Orleans
Museum. The
the enduring spirit behind the
individuals
to
who reminded
of the Greatest Generation.
Museum
leader.
main awards and
the National D-Daj
be given out
to
a reality
Nick would
began years ago as a pro-
Orleans. Working in partnership with Stephen
made
a million visitors since its
Museum's mission come
Museum, numerous
voices of
and historians
lor students, scholars,
Vice President of Development
true.
Marty Morgan and Assistant
Historian
the National l)-l)a\
time and irretrievable
E.
the faith. His enduring leadership has
lost
the
Without the continued work of Research
would be
at
is
of Jewish Heritage, he has
Eisenhower Center
D-Day Museum a colossal success, with over
grand opening on June
valor
to
accomplishments
both friend and colleague), he never
the National
tin-
archive
vision to in, ike the
k's
and a true community
hook possible. As
|
H. "Nick" Mueller,
honorary medals were
If
American people about the
()
American Studies
monumental World War
Museum's president and CEO, Gordon
new
Kalikows philanthropy
cultural preservation. Alongside his
efforts
2002 the Eisenhower Center
the
at
the entire collection the Petei
circles,
Museum
of the board of trustees of the
goodwill have perpetuated the historical endeavors
transferred
York
champion of many worthy causes
accomplishments. Kalikows
In
we named
New
Oral Histon- Project. In
II
Kalikow & Co.
J.
American Studies
for
preserve the largest collection in existence of oral his-
to
Battle of the Bulge veterans. In 2001
Kalikow World War
widely known. He
Kalikow, president of H.
S.
Eisenhower Center
in the
Hugh Ambrose has been involved with
the
oral history project since inception. Early on. his scholarly passion for capturing the stories
of our veterans helped
The Museum
is
proud
Adkerson. Reuben
make
ol its
the Peter
F.
Jr..
Doody
Jr.,
Ph.D.,
Kalikow. Kenneth
Bollinger. Frank
Sr.,
USMC
Gregory M.
St. L.
II
Oral History Project possible.
E.
Bebring,
Cudd
III.
(Ret), E.
O'Brien,
E.
Kushner.
Ralph Lupin, Commodore Thomas
Thomas
P.
O'Neill
Marc
III,
J.
George Shinn, Ted G. Solomon, Frank B. Stewart
Weinmann. Bruce N. Whitman,
J.
J.
L.
Abbott
Jr.,
Richard
Tom Benson. Corinne

J.
Bouillion, Philip
|.
Arthur Q. Davis, Alton
C. Forbes,
Alexis Herman, Susan O. Hess, Marvin
Klothen, David M. Knott, John
L.
Borman, Harold
Anthony Drexel "Tony" Duke, Timothy
L.
Livingston,
l80
T.
Jacquelyn B. Clarkson. Harlan Crow. Robert C.
McDaniel Freeman
Satre,
Kalikow World War
Anderson. James Barksdale. Kenneth
Claiborne "Lindy" Boggs. Donald

Carroll
S.
dedicated Board of Directors: Herschel
Alan
I.
Franco. Louis
"Buddy" Jacobs, Peter
Wayne Leonard. James
E.
Lupo, Gordon H. Mueller.
Pachter, Richard A. Pattarozzi, Philip

Jr..
David
R. Voelker, Virginia
Eason
Pete B. Wilson.
J.
DREZ
Thanks
to the
Eisenhower Center
during the concurrent
fort
staff:
who
Kevin Willev, Assistant Director,
and Andrew
activities; Lisa Weisdorffer, Project Coordinator,
Travers, Research Associate, for their tireless efforts in manuscript preparation;
Michael Edwards, Research Associate,
ticular,
for his invaluable
ize
thousands of
change
ers.
at the University of
We
memoirs,
stories, oral histories,
New Orleans, we welcome
In a time of
and embrace our new academic
lead-
are especially grateful for the support from Chancellor Emeritus Gregory O'Brien,
and look forward
to a
grand future under the leadership of Chancellor Timothy
Special thanks to our former Provost, Louis
Rick Barton. And, as always, Robert
L.
V.
The assembly and organization
many
dinated efforts of
Ben Raker
of a
Paradise,
and
who makes
book such
all
as this only
come about through
we would
talented people. At becker&mayer!
come
of our projects
like to
down
and archival images; Kate Hall
for
its
for solid sound-editing;
Kamuda
production; and Sheila
becker&mayer! president Andy Mayer
Cindy Lashley
with
it
its
thank editor
Todd
both personal
shepherding the
Thanks
for overseeing the project.
for placing
true.
the coor-
to end; designer
Bates for contributing a sharp layout and cover; Shayna Ian for tracking
book through
Ryan.
and worthy successor,
his able
always keeping this project together, from beginning
for
P.
Dupont, Dean of Metropolitan College and Vice
Chancellor for Strategic Planning and Budget,
to
in par-
to carefully organ-
and photographs.
letters,
and
and intimate knowledge of
They have helped
the tapes and transcriptions used in this manuscript.
held the
are
due
publisher. At Bulfinch Press,
executive editor Michael Sand, with his belief in the book from the beginning and his sound
editorial advice,
and publisher
Jill
Cohen, with her commitment
illustrated books, recognized the merit of this project
who makes
grateful to
sure the
Stephen Lang
were recorded
at
word
gets out.
Media Studio
and Time Warner Book Group has been
A
tants
special thanks to Judy Drez
and
logistical assistance.
oversaw the extensive publicity
for contributing crisp
the Kessler
publishing the finest
from the outset. Mr. Sand, along with
assistant Eveline Chao, offered valuable suggestions

Ballast,
to
in
like to salute the
York.
a pleasure to
and the four Drez
are
The
work
entire
team
at
Bulfinch Press
with.
siblings
who worked
as willing assis-
project. Finally,
we
founder of the Eisenhower Center and the National D-Day Museum,
the late Stephen E. Ambrose, along with

the oral histories and
We
audio narration and introductions, which
New
and cameramen during the years of research on the Normandy
would
Matthew
efforts.
memoirs
of the
all
those
World War
who worked on
II
collecting
and preserving
veterans.
Douglas Brinkley
Ronald
J.
Drez
VOICES OF VALOR
181
GLOSSARY
AA:
antiaircraft (antiaircraft fire or
aircraft
an
operation, most
anti-
weapon)
AAA: Anti-Ain
the day Operation Overlord launched
Abwehr: German
Army
military intelligence
ack-ack: antiaircraft
Atlantic Wall: the
German defense
exceptional heroism in
Navy
for gallantry
an amphibious vehicle
(a
2.5-ton
tni( k|
DZ: drop zone
support a cable that prevented bombing
paratroopers)
(for
German torpedo
K-boat: a
from dying low over targets
boat
ECB: Engineer Combat Battalion
hand-carried rocket laun< her
for
omb.it or in the British
DUKW:
fortifica-
Europe
barrage balloon: a suspended balloon used
bazooka:
decoration
U.S.
(a
in action]
tions along the Atlantic coast of
aircraft
to refer to
DSC: Distinguished Service Cross
Artillery las in 'Anti-
rait
Aircraft Artillery battalion")
to
commonly used
enfilade: gunfire or direction of
fire
from
Belgian Gates: barricade-like; underwater
flanking position along the long axis of an
obstacles
enemy
Case Three: the order

terattack, issued
for the
German coun-
ETO: European Theater
only after long delay by
Adolf Hitler
Oak: antiaircraft
FUSAG:
to
COSSAC: Chief of
Stall to the
Supreme
the user
buoy used
to
mark the bound-
ary of an area clear of mines or
Reich:
Army Croup
A weapon consisting of
bag with a
German Second
S.S. Panzer
grenade was thrown
Hobart's Funnies: a
set of
mechanized
tanks designed specially for the D-Day inva-
on
ship used to lower
sion
small boats and materials into or
(swimming
IP: Initial
out of the water
tanks,
flail
where airborne troop
(characteristic of an
carriers
amphibious tank)
adjustments to their course)
D-Day: the
LCA: Landing
182
tanks, etc.)
Point (point of entry by air into an
attack area: position near landing area
DD: Duplex Drive
first
strap;
armed the explosive by holding on
three angled iron bars
davit: a small crane

lift
grenade:
hedgehog: a portable obstacle consisting of
Division (tanks)
and
fire
to the strap as the
some other
reference point
Das
)perations
United States
plastic explosive in a cloth
Commander
a
First
Gammon
create an obstacle
dan buoy:
FAB: Field Artillery Battalion
Officer
a specially trained assault troop
concertina wire: rolled barbed wire used
Allied
of
FA: field Artillery
CO: Comman ding
commando:
lint;
ESB: Engineer Special Brigade
day of any military
DOUGLAS BR1NKLEY AND RONALD
J.
DREZ
Craft, Assault
made
final
LCC: Landing
Craft,
Control
and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry
LCG: Landing
Craft,
Gun
Regiment
(British)
LCI: Landing Craft, Infantry
panzer: a
German tank
LCM: Landing
PC: Patrol Craft
LCP: Landing
LCP(L): Landing
LCT: Landing
Mechanized
Craft,
Craft,
PCC: Primary Control
Personnel
Craft, Personnel, Large
Craft.
Craft
PIAT: Projector Infantry Anti-Tank
hand-
(a
held antitank weapon)
Tank
LCT(R): Landing Craft. Tank (Rocket)
PIR: Parachute Infantry Regiment
LCVP: Landing
and
Plan Tortue: Resistance plan
to
Personnel
Plan Vert: Resistance plan
damage
LSH: Landing Ship. Headquarters
railway operations
Craft. Vehicles
German
maquis: a guerrilla
block roads
Rangers: specially trained American
LST: Landing Ship, Tank

Luftwaffe: the
to
assault troops
air force
reseau: a French Resistance
cell (or cells) of the
SAC: Supreme Allied
French Resistance
cell
Command
maquisard: a member of a maquis
SAS: Special Air Service
NCO: Noncommissioned
SHAEF: Supreme Headquarters, Allied
OB
Officer
West: Oberbefehlshaber West, the main
German headquarters
for the
Oberfeldwebei. German
Oil Plan: Allied plan to
Western Front
staff
sergeant
bomb German
Expeditionary Force
Silver Star:
oil
German
SS:
Operation Deadstock: the airborne training
lon"), a
Ox and Bucks
glider
tect
Schutzstaffel ("protection eche-
Nazi unit originally formed
Adolf Hitler and
later
to pro-
expanded
to
achieve various functions of the Nazi party
force
Operation Double Cross: an

gence
U.S. military decoration for
SOE: Special Operations Executive
resources prior to the D-Day invasion
exercise involving the
gallantry in action
effort to turn
enemy
.Allied intelli-
agents and cre-
Sten gun: a
9mm automatic rifle
TCS: Troop Carrier Squadron
German
Teller mine: a
ate false information
Operation Fortitude: the Allied deception

plan to conceal the secrets of the
Normandy
Tiger tank: a hea\y
antitank
mine
German tank
Transportation Plan: The Allied
effort to
invasion
bomb German
Operation Neptune: the Allied plan for the
before the
cross-channel attack on D-Day
UDT: Underwater Demolitions Team
Operation Overlord: the Allied invasion of
WN:
Normandy on D-Day
nest" or fortified defensive position)
OSS: Office
Ox and
of Strategic Services
Bucks:
Company
D, Oxfordshire
transportation facilities
D-Day invasion
Ulderstandsnest
Wunderwaffe:
rumored
to
(a
German
"resistance
"miracle weapon"
be possessed by the Nazis
VOICES OF VALOR
"""
183
PHOTO CREDITS
Page
Key
51:
Germans on
railcars:
AP/Wide World
Photos
NARA: National Archives and Records Administration
Page 52: Tiger tank: The Tank Museum,

Bovington (U.K.)
LOC: Library of Congress
Page
IWM: Imperial War Museum

EC: The Eisenhower Center for American Studies
at the University of
USAMHI:
U.S.
Army
New
Page
Orleans
two soldiers: NARA
Page
7:
troops line up for supplies:
area:
Page
17:
Page
18:
map
Page
21: Fred Patheiger,
Page 22:
courtesy of
British citizens:
Kirt
CORBIS
courtesy of Denise Cox
Page
IWM
Page
Woolacombe: NARA
81:
Carl Cartledge
and others: NARA
Page 84:
Bettmann/CORBIS
Carl Cartledge, courtesy of Carl
Cartledge
Page 87: Dwayne Burns
Page 36: William Tucker, courtesy of William

Tucker/EC
37: replica Sherman tank: The Tank
Museum, Bovington (U.K.)
Page 89: paratroopers

Denise Cox
Page 38: Ed Jeziorski, courtesy of Ed Jeziorski/EC

Page 39: Joseph Blaylock, courtesy of Opal
Page
Blaylock
91: nighttime
in
jeep, courtesy of
sea battle: U.S. Coast Guard
Page 94: 556th squad, courtesy of Merle Corry

Page 95: John Robinson, courtesy of John
Page 43: LST: NARA

Page 44: Rommel on the beach: NARA
Robinson
Page 96: John

Havener
AP/Wide
0- K.)
Page 97: William
Page 49: railway bombing: copyright unknown
gear, courtesy of
Page 92: B-26 bomber: NARA

Page 93: Alfred H. Corry, courtesy of Merle Corry
Page 40: troops board: Hulton Archive/Getty

Images
fighters:
in
Dwayne Burns
Page
184
plane: U.S. Signal Corps
Page 83: Dwayne Burns, courtesy of Dwayne

Burns
Page 33: Eisenhower, Montgomery, and soldiers:
Page 47: French Resistance

World Photos
in
Sidney Ulan, courtesy of Sidney Ulan
Page 82: camouflaged parachutes, courtesy of
27: Harry Parley, courtesy of Harry Parley
31: Churchill, Roosevelt,
plane:
(film still)
Page 80: paratroopers
Page 28: LST blown apart by German E-boat: NARA
Page
in
Page 78: Eisenhower with paratroopers: U.S.

Signal Corps
25: John Robertson, courtesy of John
in
courtesy of
77: paratroopers face-painting: U.S. Signal
Corps
Robertson/EC
Page
Parr,
Garcia
U.S. Signal Corps
Harold Baumgarten
Page 26: training
Garcia
Page 76: paratrooper getting

poster:
of EC
glider,
Page 73: Pegasus Bridge: IWM

Page 75: parachutes dropping: NARA
Page 24: Harold Baumgarten, courtesy of

Page
Kirt
Page 69: Jack Bailey and Wally
Hearing Roosevelt's speech on radio:
AP/Wide World Photos

19: Army recruitment
British troops receive instruction:
Page 67: Howard and Wallwork beside the
of the
Page
German guard: AP/Wide World Photos
Page 60: Richard "Windy" Gale: IWM

Page 63: John Howard, courtesy of EC
Page 65: Brian Priday, Ox and Bucks, courtesy
NARA
Normandy invasion
Department of the Army
enlistment line: Bettmann/CORBIS
Pages 14-15:
Rommel and men: AP/Wide World
AP/Wide World Photos
Endsheets: map: Department of the Army

3:
57:
Page 59:
Military History Institute
Page
54:
Photos
J.
J.
DREZ
J.
Moriarity/EC
Havener, courtesy of John
K.
Moriarity, courtesy of William
Page 98: loading in landing craft: CORBIS

Page 101: USS Nevada guns: NARA
Page 105: USS Arkansas: NARA

Page 106: boat on fire: U.S. Coast Guard
R. Pike,
courtesy of Malvin
U.S. Signal Corps
R.
Pike/EC
114:
Don Malarkey, courtesy
of
Don
A-20 bombers: NARA
117:
Page
118: U.S.
Page 148: Boat Team #5, courtesy of John Barnes

Page 149: Gilbert Murdoch, courtesy of
Murdoch/EC
Page 150: dead

Page
151:
Robert
soldier:
Robert
L.
L.
NARA
Sales, courtesy of
Sales/EC
Page 152: Bob Slaughter, courtesy of
Maiarkey/EC
Page
Page 147: Ray Nance and others, courtesy of

John Barnes
Gilbert
Page no: troops on dunes: U.S. Signal Corps

Page 113: Utah Beach walls: NARA
Page
Page 144: John Barnes, courtesy of John Barnes

Page 145: troops in LCVP: NARA
Page 146: helping soldier from water:
Sam
Page 108: German mine exploding: U.S. Coast

Guard
Page 109: Malvin
141: Albert
Albert
Page 103: troops on an LCT: NARA

Page 104: general descending to boat: CORBIS
Page 107: Sam Grundfast, courtesy of

Grundfast/EC
Sponheimer Jr., courtesy of

Sponheimer Jr.
Page 143: LCI headed to Omaha Beach: NARA
Page
Rangers
in
John Robert (Bob) Slaughter/EC
an LCA: NARA
Page 119: James Eikner, courtesy of James Eikner
Page 120: Donald Scribner, courtesy of Mary

Scribner
121: climbing rope up cliff: NARA
Page 122: Sidney Salomon, courtesy of Sidney
Page
Page 153: Colonel James Rudder: USAMHI

Page 155: bikes unloaded at Gold Beach: IWM
Page 159: troops unload
Page 161: flail tank: IWM
at
Sword Beach: IWM
Page 163: Stanley Dudka, courtesy of

Stanley Dudka/EC
Page 123: Ralph Goranson, courtesy of Carol Mount
Page 165: commandos in Ouistreham: IWM

Page 166: Peter Masters, courtesy of
Page 124: beach craters: USAMHI

Page 125: Leonard G. Lomell, courtesy of Leonard
Page 167: crashed gliders: courtesy of
Salomon
fortifications:
NARA
Page 127: Sidney Salomon getting

courtesy of Sidney Salomon
silver star,
Page 129: wading to the beach: NARA

Page 130: Omaha Beach map: Department
of the
Page
Kirt
Garcia
Page 169: memorial: U.S. Coast Guard
G. Lomell
Page 126: German
Peter Masters
Army
Page 170: Eisenhower: U.S. Signal Corps

Page
171:
German
officers: U.S.
Coast Guard
Page 172: captured "beetle tank": NARA

Page 173: soldier writing letter: NARA
Page 174: captured Nazi flag: U.S. Signal Corps
(film still)
131: Franz Gockel, courtesy of Franz
Gockel/EC
Page 132: pinned down at Omaha Beach: Robert

Capa 2001 by Cornell Capa/MAGNUM
Page
133: Robert H. Miller, courtesy of Robert H.
Miller/EC
Page 134: Jerry W. Eades, courtesy of Jerry W.

Eades/EC
Page 135: German gun emplacement: U.S. Signal
Corps
Page 136: beach obstacles: NARA
Page 138: men under ledge: U.S. Signal Corps
Page 139: Steve Kellman, courtesy of Steve
Kellman/EC
Page 140: Hyman Haas, courtesy of Hyman
Haas/EC
VOICES OF VALOR
185
,r '
Douglas Brinkley
is a
wes<
UnivejM of
history at the
Orleans
and
is
diiHI
Eisenhower Center
for
N<
of
Studies, a nonprofit research
founded by Stephen
tute
and dedicated
FIRST X SECOND
US *
Br.
E.
insti-
Ambrose
to the
study and
American history
preservation of
and
its
American
leadership.
Brinkley
New
authored three
>i
has
York Times
Notable Books of the Year. He has

also written a
Wheels
number
for the World:
of popular histories,
Henry
Ford, His
including
Company, and a
Century of Progress (2003) and Tour of Duty:

John Kerry
and the Vietnam War(2oo4).
Brinkley
is
also
known
for his
work as a consultant and on-air commentator

for major
television networks and cable channels
such as CNN, NBC
News, and Fox News. He has written for the New
York
Times, Foreign Affairs, the Washington
Post, Time,
Newsweek, the Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker,
Foreign Policy, and the Atlantic Monthly.
Ronald
J.
Drez
is
a decorated com-
bat veteran of the Vietnam War, having been awarded for heroism two
Bronze Stars, a Presidential Unit

Citation,
and a Vietnamese Cross of
Gallantry with Silver Star.

historian,
lecturer,
He is a
and research
associate for the Eisenhower Center,

where he personally collected many
courtesy.of
of Bob Bradford
^ ^"t^'
5 0ral "'Stories
veterans of World
ident of Stephen
tours,
Ambrose
Tours, Inc.,
including those to the
Normandy. He
War
II.
He
and leads
is
the
pres-
historical
D-Day battlefields
in
the editor of the award-winning Voices of

D-Day (1994) and the author of Twenty-Five Yards
of War:
is
The Extraordinary Courage of Ordinary Men

(2001).
He
Brittanica
is
in
World War II
also a contributing writer to the Encyclopedia
Web
site
on Normandy.
Narrator Stephen Lang has had a long and

distinguished
career on stage and screen. His Broadway
credits include A
Few Good Men, Wait Until Dark, Death of a Salesman,

and
The Speed of Darkness. His films include
Gettysburg,
Tombstone, Last Exit to Brooklyn, and a highly
acclaimed
performance as "Stonewall" Jackson
in
Gods and Generals.
Jacket front: Photo of American GIs courtesy of

the National Archives; map courtesy of the
Library of Congress. Jacket back: (clockwise
from top left) Don Malarkey, Dwayne T. Burns
lohn H. Robinson, Ed Jeziorski. Leonard G. Lomell.

Stanley Dudka. jerry W. Eades lohn
Havener. Malvin R. Pike.WjUjjm Tucker.
Visit
our Web
Printed
in
sit jsj|/ww.bulfinchpress.com
China
k'
"Voices of Valor
is
memories about
an
chorus of personal
irresistible
every aspect of D-Day. Just
you think you've heard
new story of
or combat humor
it all,
courage, fear, brotherly love,
takes you back to that fateful day in June
and the invasion
that
remains
when
944,
a military wonder."
Tom
Brokaw
Experience the history of D-Day through the words and recorded voices
of those
who were therethe
senrfi
emeu who
risked their lives for the
protection of freedom and democracy. With two sixty-minute audio
CDs
of veteran testimonies, personal and historical photographs, and a texl
by two leading historians. Voices of Valor
and
a stirring tribute to the
so bravely that day.
A90000
780821 228890
I!
men who
is
both a captivating history
served their country and the world

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J

Douglas Brinkley and Ronald

lasting tribute to the soldiers

one of the most important

battles of the twentieth

includes two hourlong audio

all that allow us

voices as they recount what

Normandy. These accounts are

drawn from the

Peter S. Kalikow World

the National D-Day Museum.

decorated Vietnam veteran and

monies and weaves

the fate of World

in the twentieth century.

150,000 Allied soldiers took part

hanging in the balance,

and sea operation ever attempted. Five

thousand Allied servicemen died

that day, but

point of the war. Less than a year

This unique multimedia history

of the invasion brings the

E: If any part of these contents

DISK 1 AUDIO CONTENTS

Americans Cross to England

Airborne Training (note: interviewer

Assault on the Caen (Pegasus) Bridge

Attempts to Radio a Missing Glider

U.S. Airborne Invasion

Across the Channel

and Sea Armadas

Overview Final Preparations

Overview Enlistment and Training

20. Dropping into

Overview Undercover Work

Making the Crossing

DISK 2 AUDIO CON .^TS

Note: Audio recordings correspond to chapters

Overview Utah Beach

Approaching the Beach

Approaching the Beach

Destroying the Guns

Overview Gold, Juno,

Attacking the Bluffs

10. Destroying the

Crossing the Beach

28. Liberation of France

THE FINAL OVERLORD PLAN

3 1833 04579 5116

tOO AND ABOVE

Notice: Warning ol Copyright Restrictions

specified in la* non-profit kbranes

: 'en! copies of c:-.

copy or piAlKry peStaled

2004 by Douglas Brinkley and Ronald

2004 by Stephen Lang

Time Warner Book Group

Voices of Valor: D-Day: June

produced by becker&mayer!, Bellevue, Washington.

Design by Todd Bates

and patriotism have allowed