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Trump to visit France for D-Day 75th anniversary
US President Donald Trump is to visit Normandy in June this year for the 75th anniversary commemorations of D-Day, he has said. Mr Trump made the announcement during a reception of World War II veterans in the Presidential Oval Office, at the White House, in Washington DC. [Connexion France] Read more...
[Posted: 2019-04-30 09:01:00]
US President Donald Trump is to visit Normandy in June this year for the 75th anniversary commemorations of D-Day, he has said. Mr Trump made the announcement during a reception of World War II veterans in the Presidential Oval Office, at the White House, in Washington DC. [Connexion France] Read more...
[Posted: 2019-04-30 09:01:00]
Bernard DARGOLS, 98, died April 28, 2019
We have just learned that Bernard DARGOLS has died. Bernard DARGOLS landed on Omaha Beach with 2nd Infantry Division. Read more...
[Posted: 2019-04-29 22:00:00]
We have just learned that Bernard DARGOLS has died. Bernard DARGOLS landed on Omaha Beach with 2nd Infantry Division. Read more...
[Posted: 2019-04-29 22:00:00]
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WOLTERS HENRY H 1ST INFANTRY DIVISION |
Honored by Herman Wolters
[Posted: 2024-02-29 20:28:14]
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PALMER SAMUEL C 29TH INFANTRY DIVISION |
Honored by Jeffrey Palmer
[Posted: 2023-12-25 14:40:54]
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| OMAHA BEACH MEMORIAL - TESTIMONIES | |
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| Captain John C. Raaen 5th Ranger Battalion Headquarters Company View folder |
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We could hear the planes overhead, the ships bombarding the coast. What with the Air Corps and the Navy, Normandy's defenses would be a shambles by the time we hit the beach. And the minutes droned on. H-hour. No word from the Second. A beach master's radio came through clearly to the effect "Omaha Dog White is clear. Troops meeting no resistance." No word from the Second. We shifted our course toward Dog beach. There would still be time to change our course for the cliffs if only the signal would come through. I'm not sure of this next, but I vaguely recall hearing a radio message from the Second. It was feeble and almost unintelligible. We weren't sure what it meant, but it didn't mean success. Colonel Schneider has waited as long as he could and now we'd have to really move to land on time. The beachmaster on Dog White had stopped his talk. We soon saw the reason why. We were still about a thousand yards out when A and B of the Second touched down. The ramps dropped and the men were slaughtered by machine gun fire. You could see them drop as they tried to get out. In desperation, they went over the sides and lay half drowning in the water hidden behind obstacles. A scattered few made it up the beach. Others began to move out of the water. Most made it now that they were dispersed Except for a few Rangers and smashed boats there in that hell of fire, the beach looked empty. Colonel Schneider in the wave ahead of us watched the slaughter through his binoculars. I don't know what he thought, but I can imagine, when you remember that two months before, he had been Exec of the Second. He made a crucial decision as he watched. He shifted the whole two waves from Dog Green to Dog White where resistance seemed lighter and where, apparently, most of the 116thhad landed by mistake. To shift 1500 yards to the left when only a thousand yards from the beach was a problem the British did well. We didn't lose a single boat, we didn't get mixed up and as we came into touch down we still had perfect formation. Schneider's wave hit first, we were minutes behind him and apparently to his right. By now the noise was deafening. An LCM or LCT was hit on our right by artillery and burst into flames. A minute or so later we were in the obstacles. LCI 91, 50 to 100 yards on our right was hit by artillery. The boat ground to a stop. The ramp dropped. Sullivan jumped out with me right behind him. The water wasn't as high as my boots. Posted: July 16, 2011 Copyright: Laurent Lefebvre |
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