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NEWS: [See all News]
Raymond S. HOBACK - 29th Division.
Bedford Boys Fallen - Raymond Samuel HOBACK never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrified his life for our freedom... Raymond may have made it out of his landing craft, but he never made it to shore. Others recall seeing his body in the water. Bedford also failed to make in on the beach. He was killed by an exploding 88mm shell. Their time in the battle could be measured in minutes... [American D-Day facebookRead more...
[Posted: 2020-01-21 22:40:05]
RIP - Robert GIGUERE - Navy.
It is with heavy heart we learn the passing of Mr. Robert GIGUERE, a veteran of D-Day (Normandy)... He was 93... Four days earlier, Giguere rode across the choppy English Channel toward the Normandy coast with the Sixth Naval Beach Battalion. When his carrier grounded on the beach, a Teller mine detonated from beneath and tore through the ship's hull, Killing several soldiers below deck... [American D-Day facebookRead more...
[Posted: 2020-01-21 22:58:23]
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WALL - IN MEMORY OF: [See all Messages]
WOLTERS HENRY H
1ST INFANTRY DIVISION
Every time when I go to Normandy I pay my respect to Henry Herman Wolters and send the photo's from his grave to his Family.
Honored by Herman Wolters
[Posted: 2024-02-29 20:28:14]
PALMER SAMUEL C
29TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Samuel Clinton Palmer Service ID: 35803938 From: Tallega, Lee County, Ky Birth Date November 28, 1924 Casualty Date June 6, 1944 Army Corporal HQ Company, 2nd Battalion, 116 Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division Casualty Type KIA - Kill in Action Location: Omaha Beach, Normandy, France
Honored by Jeffrey Palmer
[Posted: 2023-12-25 14:40:54]
   1 - 2 / 135 messages   
OMAHA BEACH MEMORIAL - TESTIMONIES
Partager
Lieutenant Wesley Ross

146th Engineer Combat Battalion
Company B


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As we approached the beach, I began seeing splashes in the water from the mortar, artillery, and small arms fire, so I quickly lost interest in being an observer, and ducked down behind the steel ramp and sidewalls. This was really fingernail-biting time, as detonation of our explosives by mortar or artillery fire would have been devastating...
As we came close in, our navy gunner began "hosing down" the beach ahead with his twin .50 caliber machine guns, mounted near the stern of our LCM. This certainly was a morale booster, because as we approached the beach we saw several dead GIs face-down, bobbing and rolling in the surf. This was unsettling--this was just a few minutes after our infantry covering force had been programmed to be the first foot-soldiers ashore. These men may have been tankers in the DD-Tanks that sank in the heavy surf. Had they been in our initial infantry cover force, their under-the-chin assault gas masks should have kept them face-up in the water--even though drowned.
There were no visible tankdozers or infantrymen near our landing area when we scurried from our LCM, five minutes late from our planned landing time of 0633--(per Ensign Blean). This five minute delay had an adverse affect on our mission, as will be seen. Our tankdozer was late, and I had thought that our infantry covering force was also late. The fortified house near the mouth of les Moulins Draw, was a short distance east.
Gap Assault Team #7 was 200 yards to my west, and another team an equal distance to the east (Gap Assault Team 9?). This approximated the planned spacing. All eight 146ECB primary Gap Assault Teams landed on our western beach sector, and all were reasonably near their designated sub-sector areas--even though many writers have stated that the tidal current pushed most of the boat teams to the east. This may have been true for many of the infantry landing craft; and all four of our 146ECB support Gap Assault Teams did land far to the east on the 299ECB beach sector...
As for Gap Assault Team #8, its members hurried inland 150 yards near our "foxhole", and began placing the C-2 charges. Bill Garland, Earl Holbert, Bill Townsley, several NCDU members, and I slid the rubber raft out of the LCM, containing the backup explosives and bangalore torpedoes. It took somreal tugging to skid out the raft, all the while sweating it out while presenting a stationary target with our backs to the enemy. Earl then pulled the craft eastward beyond the edge of our gap and tied the long small-diameter rope to one of the wooden obstacles...
Running a zigzag path up to our Super Foxhole located midway between the wooden obstacles and the steel hedgehogs, I found Sgt W. Grosvenor firing his M-1 at the fortified house near the mouth of D-3 Draw to our left front, attempting to suppress the machine gun fire coming from there. After a short discussion, I grabbed his big Signal Corp wire-reel containing the primacord ring main (two strands of primacord frictiontaped at two foot intervals to a small rope), and took off in high gear...

Posted: July 16, 2011
Copyright: Laurent Lefebvre