World War II veteran Torre Tobiassen recalls how Beach Master Joe Vaghi saved his life on D-Day as he and his battalion took Omaha Beach during the Normandy Campaign. Tobiassen also talks about his family taking him to see the movie, Saving Private Ryan, due to the D-Day scene in … Continue reading
Walter Ehlers is a veteran who served as staff sergeant in the U.S. Army’s First Infantry Division during World War II. Here, Ehlers is awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor because of the amazing courage and heroism he showed on June 9, 1944, just a few days after D-Day. Ehlers … Continue reading
“All of our leaders were gone. It was just — just a bunch of privates and sergeants and corporals trying to, you know, get something going and trying to get it to succeed…Nobody could possibly be trained for what we found that day. But you learn fast, you know. It’s … Continue reading
“The most horrible was when we landed at the beachhead that so many dead were still floating in the water. They had already turned black, and decay had set in. The stench was awful.” Clarence William Dotson was a technical sergeant in the 343rd Field Artillery Battalion of the U.S. … Continue reading
“Sometime during the questioning I called a German officer a ‘SOB’ and woke up several days later in a hospital with a big headache and a bashed head.” Joseph Beryle, a U.S. Paratrooper for the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, recounts his time as a prisoner of war after making his jump … Continue reading
“We were so low that when my chute opened, I swung twice and hit the ground. I know that all the men didn’t get out. If they did, they were too low and their chutes never had time to open.” Bill Oatman, U.S. paratrooper for the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, gives his personal … Continue reading
“It has always been my feeling that the Germans were so terrified of the sight of so many ships and so many planes that they weren’t sure who to shoot at.” The following is an account of D-Day as told by Hubert Mark Altvater, a pilot for the U.S. Army … Continue reading
Veteran Edward Farley describes his experience as a member of the 463rd amphibious truck company and other African-American veterans recall their experience as they stormed the beach on D-Day. These interviews were conducted by makers of the 2008 Emmy-nominated documentary, “A Distant Shore: African Americans of D-Day,” produced by the … Continue reading
“As I lay there listening I thought of the awfulness of it all; the birds were singing and we Human Beings were trying to kill each other.” John G. Burkhalter was a former Miami minister before becoming part of the 1st Infantry Division with the U.S. Army during the Normandy … Continue reading
“There were guys lying on deck, sailors, and I thought, ‘Why are they sleeping here?’ I hadn’t connected that these guys were dead.” Fritz Weinshank is a Jewish, native-born German who moved to America in 1935. Upon the start of World War II, Weinshank decided to enlist in the U.S. … Continue reading
