D-Day, June 6, 1944

[Elphaba]

Posted: 6/6/08 at 3:19pm

Please remember those who gave their lives, and those who fought for our freedoms and lived 64 years ago on the beaches of Normandy.


Below is one of the many personal accounts from an amazing D-Day website

http://www.isidore-of-seville.com/d-day/


Voices of D-Day: Thomas Valence

We proceeded toward the beach, and many of the fellows got sick. The water was quite rough. It was a choppy ride in, and we received a lot of spray.

Our boat was one of six of A Company in the first wave, and when we got to the beach, or close to it, the obstacles erected by the Germans to prevent the landing were fully in view, as we were told they would be, which meant the tide was low.

I was the rifle sergeant and followed Lieutenant Anderson off the boat, and we did what we could rather than what we had practiced doing for so many months in England. There was a rather wide expanse of beach, and the Germans were not to be seen at all, but they were firing at us, rapidly, with a great deal of small-arm fire.

As we came down the ramp, we were in water about knee high, and we started to do what we were trained to do -- move forward, and then crouch and fire. One of the problems was we didn't quite know what to fire at. I saw some tracers coming from a concrete emplacement which to me looked mammoth. I never anticipated any gun emplacements being that big. I attempted to fire back at that, but I had no concept of what was going on behind me. There was not much to see in front of me except a few houses, and the water kept coming in so rapidly, and the fellows I was with were being hit and put out of action so quickly that it become a struggle to stay on one's feet. I abandoned my equipment, which was very heavy.

I floundered in the water and had my hand up in the air, trying to get my balance, when I was first shot. I was shot through the left hand, which broke a knuckle, and then through the palm of the hand. I felt nothing but a little sting at the time, but I was aware that I was shot. Next to me in the water, Private Henry G. Witt was rolling over towards me. "Sergeant, they're leaving us here to die like rats. Just to die like rats." I certainly wasn't thinking the same thing, nor did I share that opinion. I didn't know whether we were being left or not.

I made my way forward as best I could. My rifle jammed, so I picked up a carbine and got off a couple of rounds. We were shooting at something that seemed inconsequential. There was no way I was going to knock out a German concrete emplacement with a .30-caliber rifle. I was hit again, once in the left thigh, which broke my hip bone, and a couple of times in my pack, and then my chin strap on my helmet was severed by a bullet. I worked my way up onto the beach, and staggered up against a wall, and collapsed there. The bodies of the other guys washed ashore, and I was one live body amongst many of my friends who were dead and, in many cases, blown to pieces.

[Bluemoon]

Posted: 6/6/08 at 3:25pm

Thanks so much for posting this, Elph. I'm sad to say that I did not remember today. My dad lost his two best friends in the initial campaign. Dad landed on the beach on the second day.

Many who live today - here and abroad - owe their lives to their sacrifice.
Updated On: 6/6/08 at 03:25 PM

[Elphaba]

Posted: 6/6/08 at 3:27pm

my thanks to your dad, Blue.

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 6/6/08 at 4:14pm

operation overlord

code word: mickey mouse

[nmartin]

Posted: 6/6/08 at 4:19pm

Elphaba, thank you for this thread. My great-uncle Willard was part of this battle. He survived but was never the same after it and suffered mental anguish because of what he saw for the rest of his life.

[kelzama]

Posted: 6/6/08 at 8:06pm

Bump.

In honor of a great uncle who was there.

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 6/7/08 at 1:57am

No relatives there but it must be remembered nonetheless.