[WASCWatch]

Great story.

[yarddog]

My Father’s Battalion, the 208th Engineer Combat Battalion was very fortunate. They were scheduled to be landed early to clear obstacles.

Their ship developed engine trouble and had to return to England. They didn’t land until a few days after D-Day, at Utah Beach. The heavy fighting was over tho there was still a little bit going on.

They did run into a buzz saw at St. Lo.

[Spruce]

I worked with a man, Bill. Bill was the number 1 salesman in the company. You could totally botch his job and he’d just say ”they’ll buy it”. He always said he did all of his selling on the golf course.

One day the dudes in my area were all talking about Saving Private Ryan which had just come out. And Bill was near going over a proof. I’m not sure what was said, but during the conversation Bill chimes in “ I was a screaming Eagle.” We all stopped and looked at him. I remember saying “No shit?” And Bill says “ I was a bad-ass motherfu**er”. We all just stood there. In shock. He packed up his work and walked away. Never said anything about it ever again. And that’s all I know about his service

[shanover]

I was in the Army Infantry and could not imagine doing an amphibious landing. I recently read that no U.S. Marines actually were involved with D-Day.

[TonytheTiger7777]

My step father and all uncles fought in WW2, some landed on D-Day after being in NAfrica and Italy with patton. other uncle fought the japs at guadalcanal then tarawa. step-dad wounded twice PH and Bronze Star with cluster, uncles same injuries medals all army. Genuine heros who saved the world. Uncle Wally killed and France and buried at Catigny gardens

[mass55th]

Thanks for sharing. There are so many untold stories of average men and women who sacrificed in all our wars. It’s nice to hear them when we can.

[SMARTY]

My father was at Utah beach. He went on shore on the 3rd day and I asked if it was quiet. He said: “It was quiet for about a mile or so... then you had to duck...all the way to the hedge rows.” He said for two weeks he walked bent over at the waist and felt he’d have to walk like that forever.

[mass55th]

I had two uncles in the Army during WWII. Both were immigrants to this country. My Uncle Jack was my mother's brother. They had come to the U.S. from Canada with their mother when they were small, and settled in Rochester, NY. The story we were told was that when he enlisted, because there was no record of his entrance date into the U.S., the Army took him to the border, and made him walk from Canada back over to the U.S., which gave him his official entrance date. Don't know if I'll ever be able to verify that. His military records were destroyed in St. Louis, Missouri where the personnel records are stored. I do have a DD-214, but it is incomplete. From what I've been told, he served in the China-Burma-India theater, and the unit he was in at the time is verified as having served there. My uncle Jack and his wife moved to California after the war, and I never saw them again until he became ill, and came back to Rochester, to receive care from the VA in Batavia, NY. He died there in 1964. I was only 16 at the time. They hadn't had any children. My aunt eventually moved back to California, and died there. I kept in touch with her regularly, but she would not share anything with me about my uncle's service time, saying it was too painful for her to talk about. My older sister said he had been badly wounded while serving, but I have no way of finding out.The only other records the VA provided were his medical records from his time at Batavia.

My father's brother Adrian, came from Holland as a little boy with his two brothers, and their parents in 1912. They were all naturalized through my grandfather's application. My grandmother had already died by then. My uncle served in a Petroleum unit which was supposed to have landed at Normandy in the days following the landings. I never knew him as he died at the age of 32 of blood poisoning. He was married, but he and his wife had no children either. Sadly, all my grandparents died before I was born in 1946.

My brother was a Vietnam Vet...25th Infantry Division - Cu Chi 1966-67. He died at the young age of 51 in 1995.

In 2006, I traveled overseas for the first time with my oldest son. The first part of the trip, we drove to the small village in Holland where my father had been born, and stayed overnight. The next day we drove back to Brugges to drop off the rental car. We then took the train to Paris together, as my son wanted to make sure I got to my hotel okay, then he took a train from Paris to Berlin. I stayed in Paris for a couple of days because I had a tour reservation to visit the D-Day Landing Beaches. After Paris I headed to London, had a week there before hopping a 3-week bus tour of the British Isles. It was the trip of a lifetime for me.

[fella]

My uncle and his brother were in the 82’d Airborne and jumped into Normandy. My uncle lost his teeth when he landed in a tree his brother was captured and spent the rest of the war as a POW.

[TomServo]

To my following friends (long since gone):

1). Mr Honey - friend who served at both D-Day and Battle of the Bulge.
2). Mr. Mann - friend who served on D-Day.
3). Mr. Brewer - friend who served on D-Day.

Special shout out to someone I never personally knew, but he was my Father-in-Laws big brother - and I still hear stories about him.

Sgt Gordon H. White, Jr.. One of the "Bedford Boys" killed at Normandy.

God Bless you all for your devotion to Duty and Sacrifice

[bboop]

Thank you all for sharing these moving stories. My husband’s father was wounded in the Battle of the Bulge - lost his leg there. He had a wooden leg from the thigh down that our son thought was the coolest thing - he put his socks on with thumbtacks!!

We went to the little town near Aachen/ but in Belgium where he was hit. There is a little Catholic church there with plaques honoring the soldiers who had fought there, and a teeny museum in the woods east of there where much of the action was.

[bboop]

I ran a food closet at our church; an old vet, Roger, came up from the VFW hall to help. Roger was a hoot - a real diamond in the rough. Stalwart and responsible, he was a real help. But if people, many of them from other countries, could not understand his English, he would just speak louder and louder. So funny.

One day I asked him about the War. He told me he had driven ambulances on the D-Day beaches; ‘I was one of the older ones. I was 24.’

Remembering Roger today and my father-in-law.

[capydick]

My Dad's two brothers both landed on Utah Beach with the 4th Infantry Division on D-Day. Uncle Jimmy was with the 70th Tank and I don't remember which unit Uncle Joe was with. They both trained in different areas of England leading up to the invasion and neither knew the other was there till D Day Plus 2, meeting up by chance thru word of mouth thru the units. The reunion was brief but each were able to write a letter home that they ran into each other and letting my grandmother know they were both safe.

My Uncle Tom, was a Navy pilot in the Pacific, earning a Navy Cross and Silver Star and all three came home after the war.

My Dad served in The Coast Guard during the Korean War. As a kid, I remember my uncles didn't talk much about their experiences (except meeting up as it fascinated everyone) but boy those were some good parties when all four brothers were together!

In my mind, the only was we can repay our debt to this generation is to uphold the ideals they fought for, live each day as though their sacrifice means something and ensure our liberty remains for generations to come, whatever that takes.