I don't know, but my uncle was one of them too.
My uncle was in the 1st Infantry Division, the Big Red One, which was among those in the first wave, and he survived (in fact he lived for 50 more years). They fought their way up the hills there, through the town, and all the way to Paris, where they were among the first soldiers to march through Paris, when it was liberated.
Then they fought their way through Belgium, and marched into Liege when it was liberated. There was also a famous battle at a bridge though I'm not sure which one. Then they liberated a concentration camp in Germany (I'm trying to find out which one though I think it could have been Dachau from what I'm reading, but still not sure). But they were so appalled when they opened up that camp, that after capturing the guards, they marched back into the village nearby and forced the villagers at gunpoint to go into the camp to see what was going on near where they were living.
He said later that up to that point he had been feeling conflicted about shooting at the Germans, as he was himself a 2nd generation German-American (his grandparents had emigrated at least 80 years before) and was worried that he had been shooting at cousins. But after that camp experience, he no longer cared about that, and no longer felt German in any way. He felt American.
My uncle would almost never talk about it, though my sister was able to get only a small amount out of him. And some I've learned just by reading about the history of the Big Red One. He died just a few years ago.
I'm a doctor, it's been my good fortune over the past 30 years to have a few European Theater vets as patients.
A few years ago, a man was admitted to my service for abdominal pain. No complaints, no calls to the nurses, told every student doctor, "Oh, it's nothing".
When I saw him, he was obviously suffering a lot.
My first question to him, "You were in the Army, weren't you?" Answer: "Yes".
Second question, "Were you in combat in Europe or the Pacific?" Answer: "Europe"
Third question, "Why didn't you tell the nurses or doctors how much pain you were having?" Answer: "Infantrymen only talk to infantrymen."