“I think adrenaline was such that you didn’t have the normal response to this kind of thing. You had an urgency…you had to start doing something and doing it quickly or you were in big trouble.” -Sergeant Bill Coleman Paratroopers of the Easy “E” Company, 2nd Battalion of the 506th … Continue reading
Robert Baldridge, a corporal in the U.S. Army, describes what it was like to land on Utah Beach on June 6, 1944 and the days following the Normandy Landings. Baldridge explains what happened during the Battle of Mortain all the way to the Battle of the Falaise Pocket: “There were … 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
“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
“It was as though the curtain was about to go up on one of the biggest shows in history, and I was part of the cast! I knew it was going to be a small part, but the overriding sense of it all was that I was there!” Raymond L. … Continue reading
Roger L. Chagnon, a Naval Officer in Charge (NOIC) during D-Day, gives his firsthand account of setting up radio and communication centers on the beaches of Normandy: It was D-Day, June 6, 1944 – at approximately 10:30 a.m., the Communications Group, comprising about 7 officers and 40 enlisted men (mainly … Continue reading
Bernard Horowitz, a technician in the U.S. Army’s 553rd Military Police Escort Guard (MPEG) Company during World War II, is interviewed by Jonathan Salomone. In this interview, Horowitz talks about what jobs he was assigned to do when he first got to Normandy, nine days after D-Day. Horowitz explains the horrors … Continue reading
“This is the first time there was racial discrimination. We had black troops in the area and we were separated from them.” “One day, Hitler made an announcement that he would drive us back into the sea. We were told to sleep with our gas mask. They thought, the … Continue reading
“I landed under heavy small arms fire in a dry field near a farmhouse. I cut my way out of my harness and dashed for the nearest hedgegrow…” Frank E. McKee was a Sergeant in the 2nd Battalion, 508th Paratroop Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division during World War II. … Continue reading
Sergio Moirano was part of the U.S. 9th Infantry Division during World War II, and participated in the Allied landing of Utah Beach. Moirano describes his thoughts during the journey across the English Channel and the turbid events that followed after he got off his landing craft–including the decisions he … Continue reading
