"I jumped out in waist-deep water. We had 200 feet to go to shore and you couldn't run, you could just kind of push forward. We finally made it to the edge of the water, then we had 200 yards of open beach to cross, through the obstacles. But fortunately most of the Germans were not able to fight, they were all shook up from the bombing and the shelling and the rockets and most of them just wanted to surrender."
-Sgt. Malvin Pike, E Company, disembarking at Omaha
"The sea came alive. Assault boats and landing craft were rapidly approaching the beach. A comrade stumbled out of the smoke and dust into my position and screamed, 'Franz, watch out! They're coming!'"
-Pvt. Franz Gockel, positioned at Widerstandsnest 62 at Omaha
"As the bullets kept hitting the hedgerow inches above our head, I asked [Sgt. William] Adley if he was hit bad, and these were his words: 'I'm dying, Mickey, but if we are going to win this damn war, aren't we! You damn well fucking A we are.' When the firing ceased, Bill was dead... How much further beyond the call of duty can one go than this?"
-Sgt. Sidney McCallum, 506th PIR
"When there were cows grazing in a field, we were pleased because we could be reasonably certain that the field was not mined. Also by watching the cows... we could tell whether there was anyone else in the field, because cows would stand, waiting, facing anyone there in anticipation of being milked. Over all these years, I've had a place in my heart for those lovely Norman cows with their big eyes and big udders."
-Sgt. D. Zane Schlemmer, 508th PIR
"I emptied my M-1 clip at the two Germans on the left. In a moment it was over. Perspiration broke out on my forehead, my hands were trembling. It was the first time I had ever fired at a living thing."
-Pvt. John Fitzgerald, 101st Airborne
"On, on, you noble English! whose blood is fet from fathers of war proof.. Be copy now to men of grosser blood and teach them how to war! The game's afoot: Follow your spirit."
-from Henry V, read to soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment by their commanding officer, Maj. C.K. King in an LCA approaching Sword Beach
"There's a graveyard in northern France where all the dead boys from D-Day are buried. The white crosses reach from one horizon to the other. I remember looking it over and thinking it was a forest of graves. But the rows were like this, dizzying, diagonal, perfectly straight, so after all it wasn't a forest but an orchard of graves. Nothing to do with nature, unless you count human nature."
-Barbara Kingsolver
- Log in to post comments
One of my uncles was in the D-Day invasion, and almost had his shoulder torn off by a German bullet. For him, it was the end of the war, but fortunately not the end of his life.
For more than 5000 other Allied soldier, that day was their last day. Their sacrifice is appreciated by many of us in this world.