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My father was a Staff Sergeant with the famed 1st Army, 29 Infantry Div., 116th Battalion, (in a machine gun group). Outfit was out of Virginia originally and were the first wave of troops to hit Omaha Beach. I remember him having nightmares when I was growing up and couldn’t figure out what had actually caused them until much later in life after extensively studying the purgatory these heroes experienced. He was a squad leader, later had two squads in his charge. He was in his early 20’s when he hit the Beach. The army had trained this group in Slapton Sands UK for close to two years just for this invasion. They were dog sick after the rough seas sailing from UK to France. Daddy said that the soldiers were weighted down with 80 lb. field packs plus misc. gear when they hit the water. He said that against prior orders, he took his knife after going into the water and cut off all the weight he could so that he could increase his chances of not being pulled into the swirling water which was over their heads. This while the water was red with the blood sacrificed by our GI’s. All the while with the Germans firing at will from their perfectly sited emplacements. He said he felt he would have never survived if he hadn’t lightened his load upon hitting the water. He went on to take a schrapnel injury in Saint Lo, was out for a few days, then put back in service. Saw extremely heavy combat through until the end of his service, being discharged in May ‘45 at War’s end.