That was the last picture taken of many of those men.
The true price of freedom.
I talked with an 89 year man, who was there on June 6.
He was in his landing craft approaching the beach.What he saw sickened him.
Some of the landing craft pilots let the men off too soon, and the men, fully loaded with gear, jumped off into the water and sank to the bottom and drowned.
He went to the back of the landing craft, pointed his weapon at the Navy pilot and said “You WILL not stop this craft until you hear the sand hit the bottom, and then you WILL turn the craft sideways so when the door opens, the machine guns won’t have a direct shot into the boat.Or I will shoot you.”
He also told the pilot that he had been a merchant mariner before the war, and he could operate the craft if he had to, if he needed to take control of the craft.
This man was a short Chinese immigrant. He fought from D-Day through to Germany, being severely wounded in early 1945.
He was a scout for his division, because he was small and fearless. And partly, because of the prejudices of those days, some fellow soldiers didn’t care if the Chink didn’t come back.He knew that.
His exploits came to the attention of General Patton, who used to look him up when he came to the front to ask him of his assessment and what he saw on his scouting missions.
He also mentioned how he told his men to remove the tracer rounds from their ammo, which was not legal, he said. But the problem was, the tracers, every fifth shot or so, gave away their position, and drew enemy fire. Illegal or not, he said many men were saved by that simple order. He said simply, “What were they going to do? Fire me?”
There’s much more to his life story.
A simple man, tough and wiry to this day, who can make the best eggrolls I ever tasted.
You can never judge a book by its cover.
If you see an old man wearing a WW2 veteran cap, thank them for their service. You won’t have the opportunity much longer.
I always do.
Thank you so much for sharing that story of service.
As many on this thread, I’m living this moment with you and paying respects to those that served our nation and the world that day.
Thanks to all on this thread today.
Thank you for sharing your story of this veteran.
My Dad is 96, and last year he still had tears in his eyes when he recalled looking for the planes and counting how many crews didn't make it back to the field after each mission.
That sentence brought tears to my eyes. My WWII veteran Dad, 86, just lost his last remaining sibling (my Aunt Mary) last week and I'm so grateful for each day that he's still with us. He, like others, doesn't like to talk about the war - he was in the Navy stationed at Pearl Harbor.
Wonderful story. God bless him.
Incredible tale of grit and courage. Thanks for posting.