Replies

D-Day was inherently a turning point in the European Theater of WW II because, if the US and the Western Allies were strong enough and militarily competent enough to carry off and win D-Day, they plainly also could liberate France and drive on to Berlin to win the war. Yet that does not mean that at D-Day victory was assured, or even that the invading American GIs would make it to the beach.

Here is a D-Day survival story you might find illuminating. A lawyer in Orlando who is a family friend had a father who, as young American lieutenant, landed in the first wave at Omaha Beach on D-Day and then fought his way across Europe. To even get to the beach alive on June 6, 1944 though he had to pull a gun on and threaten the life of the British sailor who was piloting his Higgins boat.

Watching other boats, the lieutenant saw that due to heavy German machine gun fire, British sailors were disobeying their orders and, instead of running up and grounding on the beach, they were stopping in deep water and ordering the American troops to get out. The Americans then fell into water over their heads and drowned due to the heavy load of weapons and gear they carried.

When the lieutenant's boat slowed and the British sailor in charge started to lower the front ramp, the young American officer pulled out his .45, put it against the Brit's head, and ordered him to put the ramp up and drive forward to the beach. The Brit sailor complied. The lieutenant survived D-Day and the ensuing months in combat. Today, his son and other family regard those hours in combat in Normandy as a defining moment in his life.