Transcript

Firsthand Survivor Accounts From The D-Day Landings

From Timeline - World History Documentaries · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

January 15, 2026 · 53 min · 6,204 words · 77 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Firsthand Survivor Accounts From The D-Day Landings", an episode of Timeline - World History Documentaries published January 15, 2026 (53 min, about 6,204 words). It mentions 7 people, works and ideas, including D-Day, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Omaha Beach, Atlantic Wall, Utah Beach.

What this episode is about

This account showcases firsthand experiences of soldiers who participated in the D-Day landings, highlighting their fears, the brutal realities of combat, and the immense pressure they faced as part of the initial assault waves at Omaha and Utah Beaches. Through vivid descriptions of chaos, courage, and personal reflection, the narratives underscore the profound impact of their shared experiences during this pivotal moment in history.

Key takeaways

D-Day: a young man's hellish rite of passage under the world's watchful gaze.
94% casualty rates weren't a punchline; they were a grim reality fueling courage and fear.
In wartime, faith turns into a contract: survive today, negotiate with God tomorrow.
Weather forecasts shaped history—an atmospheric gamble that decided the fate of nations.
Camaraderie amidst chaos: soldiers thrived not in ignorance, but in shared anticipation of doom.

Who speaks in this episode?

General Dwight D. Eisenhower · 5 min speaking
Unnamed Veteran 1 (Guest) · 16 min speaking
Unnamed Veteran 2 (Guest) · 16 min speaking
Unnamed Veteran 3 (Guest) · 11 min speaking
Unnamed Veteran 4 (Guest) · 5 min speaking

What is discussed, and when

0:00 – 5:00: General Dwight D. Eisenhower, D-Day, Omaha Beach, Utah Beach
5:00 – 10:00: D-Day, General Dwight D. Eisenhower
15:00 – 20:00: D-Day, 82nd Airborne
20:00 – 25:00: D-Day, General Dwight D. Eisenhower
25:00 – 30:00: Omaha Beach, Utah Beach
30:00 – 35:00: General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Omaha Beach
35:00 – 40:00: General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Omaha Beach, Atlantic Wall
40:00 – 45:00: Atlantic Wall, 82nd Airborne
50:00 – 53:04: D-Day

Notable quotes from "Firsthand Survivor Accounts From The D-Day Landings"

D-Day was something that I think never every one of us share this moment that we went through something very special.
about D-Day · at 0:18
Attention men. Attention from General Eisenhower to all soldiers, sailors, and airmen.
about General Dwight D. Eisenhower · at 21:56
The beaches of northern France are alive right now with Allied troops. Allied troops landing in wave after wave.
about Utah Beach · at 29:31
And we went on in as close as we could to our assigned areas within the range of Omaha Beach. Each of the destroyer had a certain section to eliminate the German what they called the Atlantic Wall.
about Atlantic Wall · at 36:36
Be part of that invasion. We were coming into the beach and we were taking wounded off. Most of them were paratroopers from the 101st and 82nd Airborne. One person we took off…
about 82nd Airborne · at 41:33

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

General Dwight D. Eisenhower — Person · Referenced commander / quoted speaker · 6 mentions · first at 0:07
He is referenced as the senior Allied commander for D-Day and is directly quoted via his address to the Allied Expeditionary Force, framing the invasion as a "great crusade" and underscoring the stakes and expected casualties.

Companies & orgs

82nd Airborne — Company · Referenced expert · 2 mentions · first at 17:41
U.S. Army airborne division that played a key role in the D-Day invasion
101st Airborne — Company · Referenced expert · 1 mention · first at 0:38
U.S. Army airborne division that played a key role in the D-Day invasion
Thing I did in my the entire life would be part of that invasion. We were coming into the beach and we were taking wounded off. Most of them were paratroopers from the 101st…

Concepts & topics

Atlantic Wall — Concept · Key argument · 3 mentions · first at 36:54
German defensive fortifications along the coast of Western Europe, targeted during the D-Day invasion

Places & events

D-Day — Event · Core topic · 5 mentions · first at 0:18
Central theme of the episode, discussing the Allied invasion of Normandy during World War II
Omaha Beach — Place · Setting · 4 mentions · first at 0:45
One of the primary landing sites during the D-Day invasion, heavily defended by German forces
We had the mission to take out these guns that were pointed at Omaha Beach and Utah Beach.
Utah Beach — Place · Setting · 2 mentions · first at 0:48
Another primary landing site during the D-Day invasion, less heavily defended than Omaha Beach

Full transcript with timestamps

0:07 You are about to embark upon the great crusade toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you.

0:18 D-Day was something that I think never every one of us share this moment that we went through something very special. It was pitch dark and we started to loaded the troops up.

0:31 I had the job of using high explosives. We were going to be the initial assault wave on D-Day.

0:38 We were all a bunch of kids, 23, 24, 25 year olds. We had the mission to take out these guns that were pointed at Omaha Beach and Utah Beach. We were instructed that not to bring anybody back except the wounded or the dead.

0:58 And pretty soon we were taking water in. As I was going into the beach, I could hear the bullets hitting the side of my boat. The 88 start coming at us and and traces are going over our head. I know the crew I took in there was about 36 soldiers and there wasn't one of them that made it.

1:24 I yelled up at God and I said, "Hey God, you know, if there's anything you want me to do in my life, I will do it as long as you get me off this beach." I knew we were in trouble and all I could see was red blood. Something I try to get out of my mind, but it's just stuck there and I just can't shake it off.

2:04 Washington. The War Department says it has no information on reports by the German radio that invasion operations have begun on the French Channel coast. England was loaded with equipment and and troops. We laughed and said the only thing that kept the island up with the barrage balloons. We trained there for nine months. Did it had practice jumps. We had one night jump there and and it looked like the area of France, but we didn't realize where we were going to go. They had like hedros and everything.

2:55 Everybody was waiting on something to happen. Don't think that I wasn't scared. You were scared. But you just go. That's all. You don't think about it. I didn't think about it. A lot of guys did. guys broke down. But I don't know why I didn't break break it down, but I I went through something big was coming that we knew when we when we were told that we're going to be leaving and to go to Southampton. I said, "Southampton? That's right on the coast to go to France. They put us behind bob wire wolf fences with guards on the outside and guards inside and nobody could get in or out."

3:38 And uh we were there for about a week. We realized that uh that we were going to be the tip of the spear when the invasion came. I think we all had a an idea. In fact, we all knew that General Eisenhower said we was going to be 94% casualties. So, we all knew that already. who probably wasn't supposed to know it, but we did. So, yeah, we we we knew what was coming. We were all anticipating uh what we how we would react to uh people being shooting at us and uh so it was a a time of of a good deal of tension. The important part was that you had to have some kind of weather that was clear enough so you could have air cover. You had to have as close to a full moon as possible so you could see what was what you were doing on the beaches.

4:52 June 5th came and and they said we're going on the 5th and we were all suited up to go and uh word came down that the mission's been scrubbed because the weather wasn't very good.

5:07 The weather was stormy all the week before and the only way we could forecast was to look at the whole weather systems coming across the North Atlantic. And the weather showed a day before a high-pressure ridge creeping up from the Azors. And this told us we could go.

5:42 It is now too early to try to guess what the Allied command's objective might be. We got briefed uh for a couple of missions before before D-Day and then uh for the actual invasion. They showed us the sand tables and gave us the briefings and told us what to expect. We were assigned to landing craft assault because we were going to be the initial assault wave on D-Day. Now, the first battalion won that award. Don't ask me why. We weren't too excited about hearing we were going to be the initial assault, but in any event, uh we were soldiers, sailors, and airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force.

6:34 You are about to embark upon the great crusade toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of libertyloving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave allies and brothers in arms on other fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world. Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well-trained, well equipped, and battleh hardened. He will fight savagely. Our home fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war. And placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned. The free men of the world are marching together to victory. I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty, and skill in battle. We will

7:34 accept nothing less than full victory. Good luck and let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking. When I saw so many planes, I actually felt sorry for the Germans.

8:20 England had double summertime and it was still fairly light. we could we could see uh the English Channel as we were going across. I looked out the door and uh saw all the boats headed for France, so it looked uh encouraging. We weren't uh we weren't alone. It was pretty quiet. They passed out some pills and put us about half asleep. And uh first thing you know, we're ready to uh you were we're over the Cotenine Peninsula and ready to jump.

9:12 NBC reporters are standing by to bring you the latest invasion bulletins as they come off the wire. Early this morning, the long awaited British and American invasion began when paratroops landed in the area of the SA estuary.

9:25 The German news agency said the Allied invasion operations began with the landing of airborne troops in the area of the mouth of the Sain River.

9:33 When we made landfall across the channel, uh the Germans were waiting for us. They had been uh expecting us the night before and uh they were all ready with all their anti-aircraft uh artillery and they shot us up.

9:52 We couldn't have been more than 3 or 400 ft off the ground. Soon as we hit the coast then then it was they called the night of nights and the sky lit up and and the a flag came up and the machine gun traces were coming up. You could hear the bullets hitting the side of the plane. And there's no substitute for having somebody trying to kill you cuz the pilots were trying to stay away from the flack and everything. We was all pretty serious when going through that and it was uh just that we was going to combat what we had been training to do.

10:39 We were maybe 5 minutes of just solid anti-aircraft fire, rifle fire could hit us at that altitude. So we were really anxious to get out of that airplane

10:52 when the flack started. which which did over the Gernzy Islands. Uh the guys were just saying, "Let us get the hell out of here."

11:01 Can't imagine how how uh tense everybody was. It was it was amazing. And we were quite eager to get out of the damn thing. There's a lot of back there. I think everybody wanted to get out of it. I think everybody was ready to get out of it.

11:20 No question about whether you was going to jump or not. You just wanted out of that thing cuz the the shrapnel was going through that thing sound like a beehive, you know. So there was no problem getting the guys to jump. They wanted out. They wanted that green light to come on so they can get out of that damn thing. There was four planes in the formation. 66 was a company uh plane and the left was a plane was one of our platoon. on the right was 68 and then I was I was in the back with 69 and uh after the we went through all that firing and that we got the we saw the plane company uh our company plane get shot down. One of our planes was shot down. We lost, you know, 12, 14 men, the company commander and the first sergeant.

12:15 That would just before those guys even got on the ground. I think the number is somewhere around 60 aircraft uh didn't make it back to England. The moon was going in and out behind the clouds and uh I just thought about what what you could see and then you couldn't see.

12:38 We we didn't know where we was at but we was there and you're floating around down there. You're wondering what's going to happen.

12:50 All I can see is uh tracers flying on all directions down there. looked like every one of them was going to hit you between the eyes and then they peel off one way or the other and and that that's about and that's the first time I ever saw green tracers. I told people I saw green tracers and I found out later that the German did have green tracers. Ours were red.

13:23 Well, when I come down on my parachute on June 6th, I was landed on a shrine down over the hill behind the church here on the roof of a shrine. And there was two Germans there to greet me when I landed, welcome me to Normandy. I was the last man out. I was the last man in a stick to make sure everybody got out. I was the sergeant at the time. When I landed, we had the uh uh password thunder welcome and uh flash. And when I landed, another guy landed very close to me and I turned and I was still in my parachute and I opened my mouth to say the password and he yelled out, "Tipper!"

14:15 He we had known each other so well in all this training that we could recognize just by the way we moved. You know he's you see somebody and he recognized me and then I recognized him.

14:26 I hit the ground very very quick and it wasn't hurt. Got up, took my harness off and it was so quiet there. There was no action, no firing right there on the ground. And uh I heard some rustling in the bushes. There were three three of us together.

14:47 Of course, the paratroopers led the way in and the glider troops followed. Of course, I guess every about every glider crash landed. Some overturned, some lost their wings, some got down and attacked, but damaged, but got down and attacked. Fortunately, I was in a glider that no one was hurt.

15:18 The German radio announced, "This is D-Day." Had no inkling of where I was from that time until I got to St. Low. I probably was some 14 miles from where I was supposed to be. I was all alone. The only thing I got scared of really ran into because I avoided roads and so forth was cows. I'd hear I was sneaking up on cows because I thought they might be some of our men. And I didn't use the clicker. I I never believed in the clickers because I figured it was more harm than good. I could hear the guns on the shore opening up with the bombardment. I could hear that all the time every morning, noon and night all during that period.

16:10 Uh I could see very nearby got the tracers going a German walked right in front of me that I hadn't seen and he hadn't seen me. Fortunately, I had my tip Tommy gun cocked and when he came out of the tree, I I'm trying to remember whether he had his gun slung over his shoulder, I think so. But I just stitched him all the way up with a machine gun. And uh that was the first period I wor that was the most difficult period I had in all my my whole career because uh I thought he was the point of a squad. There's no substitute for hearing a bullet snap past your head and you realize that someone's trying to kill you.

17:08 Uh, and you can't explain or put into words uh how that feels, but it uh it forever changes you. You're you're never never quite the same. I landed in water over my head. I had on all of my equipment plus a leg bag. I managed to get out of the trench and the troops that I took up with were 82nd division people. They came in behind me and that's the people that I was with when I killed my first man.

18:03 It was very lonely. I jumped in, couldn't find any of my friends for about uh five hours. And my first impression was, what am I doing here? I had never felt so alone in all of my life. Early Tuesday morning, landing craft and light warships were observed in the area between the mouth of the S and the eastern coast of Normandy. Their guns were positioned in such a way that unless you got real close, you couldn't even see them. They had large guns hidden like inside the rocks and so forth. from the beach. We could see that field with that the ridge that they were on.

19:06 We could they put the artillery there. We fired up in there, you know. It was pitch dark. You couldn't see nothing in front of you. And we started to loaded the troops up and the boats. They don't tell us what area we're going to hit. We just going to go into the beach and that's it. And first thing you know, every ship in that harbor start firing at the beach. Battleships, destroyers, you name them. And it looked like the 4th of July. Only about a thousand of Fourth of July all at once. And that ocean lit up like a Christmas tree.

20:02 And it was 4:30 in the morning and they were bombing that beach like hell. After loading up our troops, went into a rendevour area with the other boats and then we got our single to land head to the beach. The poor guys got seasick. They're wearing these heavy combat jackets

20:48 and first thing you know every ship in that harbor start firing at the beach. Battleships, destroyers, you name them. You're scared all the time you do something. I was anyway. I imagine all the others were too.

21:36 I wasn't nervous. I was scared like hell. Well, everybody was scared. Wait, we were only a bunch of kids. What? 20, 21 19. And nobody knew what the hell wall was at that time. But now I know.

21:56 Attention men. Attention from General Eisenhower to all soldiers, sailors, and airmen.

22:03 And then we got our signal to land head to the beach. And I figured on the way in, I says, "This is going to be a piece of cake. There can't be nobody left on that beach with the bombardment they took. I can see them soldiers. They were scared stiff, you know, and they can see they were nervous.

22:43 We interrupt our program to bring you a special broadcast. Berlin radio says that about 15 Allied cruisers, 50 to 60 destroyers are off guarding great numbers of landing craft apparently waiting orders to hit the coast. The British American landing operations against the western coast of Europe from the sea and from the air are stretching over the entire area between Sherburgg and La Havra, a distance of about 60 mi.

23:15 It was the roughest time I ever saw. It was raining and the waves were so high that the boat was just bouncing up and down and everybody all the soldiers was getting seasick and vomiting over the side. D-Day morning. We were about 500 yards staring of the uh the battleship Texas and she was firing her big guns in the Pointer hawk and every time she'd fire the guns we would move sideways about 25 ft. We did trips back and forth bringing everything from from troops to plasma blood plasma Krations shells for the guns for thing.

24:01 I mean, it looked like a, you might say, giant junkyard between the vehicles and ships and the smaller ones, the LCMS, LCTs that were, you know, hit mines and brooached and everything. The greatest fleet of ships ever to set sail. 4,000 ships and thousands of lesser craft. The greatest army ever to strike at a hostile shore.

24:38 As I was going into the beach, I could hear the bullets hitting on the side of the ship, on the side of my boat. And then that's when I realized I said, "Well, this isn't going to be a piece of cake. This is for real." I looked into the well of the boat and there was 35 soldiers in there and I don't think there was an atheist in there because every one of us was making a sign of the cross as we were going in. And I happened to look

25:16 I looked to the right and I seen a boat and there I realized what we were going into. Our job was to uh blow up these obstacle obstacles. They had what they call hedgehogs and then they had these telephone poles with a ramp and on top of the telephone pole was a mine. That was for when the tide came in the boats would just slide up there and the mine would explode. And our job was to uh blow up 50 yard gaps so the infantry could land.

26:14 I carried a a rifle, a wet belt with canteen and ammunition and a rifle. And I forgot how many pounds of uh explosives I had on my back. I believe they called it tetrl. And as I got to the ramp of the small boat that was in to land, there was I just as I jumped into the water, there was this explosion. And while I was on the water, maybe couple of seconds, someone pulled me out and I couldn't find anything.

27:04 I couldn't find any the crew that I was attached to. I found out later that they were all killed. I was the only one left. And as I was going in, I could see the other boats. A lot of the coxins I got on some of them got nervous and they lowered their ramps way before they got into the beach. And that's how a lot of those soldiers drowned.

27:42 The tide was coming in so fast. The people were holding hands. I guess a lot of them couldn't swim, but they were holding hands.

27:53 As I hit the beach, Wally Lton lowered the ramp and the soldiers start pouring out and I seen them dropping. I seen them getting shot. I see them their faces blown off. God, it was an awful sight. This I don't never forget. It's been in my mind since as they were going off. There was one soldier there didn't want to leave. I guess he froze. He seen what happened in front of him and we were instructed not to take anybody back unless they were wounded or dead. As I lifted up my arm, tell them to get off. I was shot and they came out my back.

28:46 In fact, when it happened, I called for my mother. I was in that water and I called for my mother. I didn't really start getting scared or feeling about it until we start hearing the bullets hitting the other side of the ship and hitting the water. And then when I looked, like I said, I seen that boat blow up, I said, "Oh my god, I hope I don't get hit." I can remember the soldiers telling me, "Go all the way in. I don't want to get wet. I don't want to get wet, you know. They didn't get wet. They got killed.

29:31 The beaches of northern France are alive right now with Allied troops. Allied troops landing in wave after wave. We got in within 300 yards of the cliff point of Point to Hawk. We had the mission to take out uh these guns that were pointed at uh Omaha Beach, Utah Beach, and you named the beach. These guns were ready to go. And pretty soon uh the 88 start coming at us and and traces are going over our head. Next thing I knew when we got within about 800 yards from the point, we were taking a awful pounding and one shell hit just in front of the bow of the landing craft. Just picked it up and we had almost half full of water already. Just flipped it over. First thing I know, I hear remember hearing uh our captain and saying abandoned ship.

30:48 We had no choice. We were dumped right into the water and we lost five guys and and we figured that the end is going to come under the command of General Eisenhower. Allied naval forces supported by strong air forces began landing Allied armies this morning on the northern coast of France. And the water was really red too with all the people get get hit. It's awful.

31:38 They had us pinned down actually. You couldn't move. If you stood up, you were gone. I reached a point where I could see that I had to talk to God in a real hurry. And uh I remember looking up to God and I yelled, "God, no matter what it is you want me to do, I'll do it forever and the rest of my life." And almost instantly uh the Navy had shot down uh smoke flares way down below the beach near Vville and the smoke had drifted up by us. At that point uh Colonel Cannon who was my regimenal commander had come along in the smoke and said, "Okay guys, get off the beach, get your ass up here, get up to the beach and and run." And it was almost simultaneously. And he yelled, "29, let's go."

32:38 And we did. We get up to the burm and we made it to the burm and uh uh managed to get up there soaking wet. So, I mean, we're talking about a beast that's like a quarter of a mile long to get up. And how I managed to get there, I don't know, but God was helping me.

32:58 When I when I jumped in, I I went overboard. I I went under and all of a sudden someone pulled me back up. That that was almost simultaneously with this explosion from an 88, but I was about maybe waist deep, but the tide was way out at the time. I managed to crawl up the beach and because the tide the tide went out very far, but when it came in, it came in quite fast and it left a very small beach. And that's when before as I was crawling in the beach, I looked back and I could see these tanks that were supposed to float. They just sank. They went right to the bottom. And I got up on a beach and another one of the tanks made it, but it got stuck and it lost its dread on all the small rocks. And as I was laying there, the there were I couldn't find any Navy men. And you could tell the Navy men because on our helmets we had a blue stripe that went around the helmet.

34:18 There was some army men about 10 15 feet from me laying down with a medic and an 88 they they called them 88s. The shells hit them and they were gone. There were body parts all over the place. The bodies all over the place. Not arms and legs. I remember this one. He must have been an officer because he said there are two kind of pe two kinds of people in the speech. Those that are dead and those that are going to be dead. I remember that. As I backed off the beach, I could see a lot of soldiers there just floating in the water. And it was a hell of a sickness sight. something I try to get out of my mind, but it's just stuck there and I just can't shake it off. And I Oh, I thought so much of those. We were all a bunch of kids. No more than I was only 19 years old. So the rest of them were I was I figured I was the youngest one on that beach that day because the rest of them were all over

35:32 than I was. 23, 24, 25 year olds. And to see them soldiers just floating there and dying on that beach, it was it was hell. And don't let anybody tell you it was different because it was hell. It was awful. And these are things that you that I will never forget. Scariest thing that ever happened to me in my life.

36:19 Whatever was done was not enough to make any difference to the Germans in their efficiency and ability to prevent us from landing. and therefore they had to change everything. So they scrapped the book and we went on in uh as close as we could to our assigned areas within the range of Omaha Beach. Each of the destroyer had a certain section to eliminate uh the German uh what they called the Atlantic Wall. There was just a huge mass of ships of of landing craft and and everything and and circling around and because there was no success immediate success on the beach. A lot of ships that should have been in unloaded and gone out were still there in the beach. So there was a mass of ships close to the beach.

37:24 would have been a field day if the artillery had gone out farther, but it was obvious that they did were determined to confine their fire to the beach and just off the beach. We went and examined the pill box afterwards and they said this is probably where our big guns hitting it be a little ship of cement off the didn't our guns didn't do any damage unless they were direct hit.

37:59 One of the toughest things for us was that when we would come across pots of bodies floating and we would have to report them in and they had special people that picked them up. that never goes away. It stays with you all the time. I when flashbacks come back, I see arms, legs, bodies.

38:46 We lost a lot of people out there. A lot of good people. A landing was made this morning on the coast of France and German radio stations admit that our troops are now 10 miles inside Europe. He was very surprised because he relied on the expert view of the German Greeks Marina that nobody could land under such weather conditions. It was a very courageous decision of General Eisenhower and a very successful. My father was away from the theater and some others as well. He said this is very painful that they are landing while I'm not there.

40:13 The British and Americans were more courageous than the Germans concerning the weather. But in the morning around 8:00 there there was still no clear picture of the situation in my father's and Runit's headquarters. They still were doubtful if this if this really had been the landing. But this changed in one hour and my father began from the when he heard it began to to call his driver and to prepare himself for departing to France.

41:04 Today is a day that no living American can ever forget. Invasion day. Allied invasion forces have cleared the enemy from all of their beach heads in French Normandy. Today they are fighting their way inland

41:17 to report that several beach heads have now been established. Allied forces are slicing their way inland from these beach heads. According to the reconnaissance photos,

41:24 I don't ever remember being scared. You know, it was an experience that I knew would probably be the most important thing I did in my the entire life would be part of that invasion. We were coming into the beach and we were taking wounded off. Most of them were paratroopers from the 101st and 82nd Airborne. One person we took off was a glider pilot and he uh he was in really bad shape. The doctors later said that he had broken every bone in his body. Uh what I took him back in my boat.

42:04 We have broken the first German defense line. We've pierced a hole in it. We are 10 miles inside the uh fortress of Europe. That wall of steel and concrete which Hitler boasted could never be broken. But it apparently has already been broken. Our job was to go in there and stay there until we silenced each of the German heavy artillery in there, the machine gun nest, the uh mortar nests, and the sharpshooters. The destroyers stayed there until there were no more firing from any source of the Germans. The German wall was broken forever.

43:03 What was happening when we got there? People are getting off the boats and being killed on the beach. I remember looking down in both directions and as far as I could see there were men on the on the on the on the sand there and they were either dead or they were lying still because they didn't want to be dead and because there was nothing but death for them if they got up because the none of the defense the offensive actions of the Germans were stopped with all the things we did until the destroyers came in and destroyed the big guns and then all the others that that they had. And by by the time sun set, there was not a single German gun firing or a pistol or a rifle, mortar or anything else. And the German wall, the Atlantic wall was no more.

44:27 Enormous Allied reinforcements have been pouring across the channel and onto the beaches and into the gaps in the Nazi line of steel and cement fortifications along the coast. Supreme Headquarters says initial landings succeed. Fighting proceeds. Winston Churchill says that the enemy was surprised by our landings. The airborne troops are well established behind Nazi lines. The Allied forces have penetrated several miles inland. Losses have been far lighter than had been anticipated and the operation is proceeding in a thoroughly satisfactory manner.

45:11 And another bulletin just in emphasizes the element of surprise saying that the Nazis were caught off their guard in an effective surprise by the Allied forces. Although all the beaches on which we have landed have been cleared of the enemy and some of the beaches have been linked together, the fighting inland is both heavy and general. The first phase of the invasion is going well. The allies now control about 50 mi of the French coast.

45:50 Heat. Heat. In my rosary nights when I say to pray I pray still I don't pray for the guys that on holidays I pray for him every night. I even pray for the people that were in the concentrations camps that got killed by the Nazis. And I and I say, "And God bless the people that didn't make it back home." Every night, not on holidays, every night.

47:07 I remember that day after I got wounded and the four of us was there and we were all crying. Not only me, what we saw, the four of us, we couldn't believe it. And Brienne, he had studied to be a priest and he was the one that prayed the most, I guess, for all of us. I'm not the hero. I'm not the I'm I'm not the the hero. I'm just a survivor. The heroes, most of the heroes over there under the white crosses that you all know about and their mothers and their fathers and their brothers and their sisters and even their children of some of those people. Those are the heroes of this war. We're the survivors now. And I'm glad you feel that way. But and I hope you always do because democracy and liberty are are are too precious. And until I came over here, I didn't realize how precious it was.

48:15 I always had the feeling that somebody's uh looking after me because look at what happened. We're supposed to land 10:00 in the morning and uh I didn't land until the next day. So that saved me then. If I landed 10:00 in the morning, I probably would have been one of those guys laying there. I always felt bad and I do today for all the servicemen that get killed in action. I stay I think about it all the time. I was very glad that I would took part in it and I could be of some you know help one way or another. Yes. But uh anybody would have done what I did I you know hero what what does it mean a hero? Can you tell me just because he did something which is very important but he had to he had a job to do and that's what that's what I did. I had a job to do and I did it but I'm not a hero.

49:32 I won't call myself a hero. The thing that affects me more is that they were one of my buddies, one of my fellow soldiers and we were kind of like a family in a way and uh we were kind of like one almost. that I think affects me more than anything else. Their lives were cut short. They never got the chance to realize uh an adult life and they were just kids really. And uh our whole regiment average 21 years old I think officers and men and they never had chance to have families and children of their own. It's sad.

50:11 said it. I didn't think I could be affected, but you can't help but have it overwhelm you to see all this. I I've always been proud of the uniform I wore, the boys that I served with. Well, you were proud of your outfit cuz you you lived up to the tradition of the outfit. You know what I mean? I didn't want to disguise the outfit. No matter what happened, I didn't want to disguise the outfit. You got to look at it this way. You're looking at me. I'm looking at him. I'm looking at him. Look at what can I say is we know what it was.

51:15 Hey, we're we're survivors. Yeah. The heroes are all over there buried. Right. When there's people say you're a hero now, those guys under the white crosses are a hero. That's right.

51:30 That's it. See, you're not alone. We made it. And I'm thankful to God that we did make it. D-Day is one of the big historical events of our of our century. You say D-Day to someone, they know what you're talking about. And I was there and I got a front row seat and it was pretty unique. We changed the world whether you know it or not. We actually were involved in changing the way the world was operating.

52:49 Heat. Heat.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Firsthand Survivor Accounts From The D-Day Landings"?

General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Unnamed Veteran 1 (Guest), Unnamed Veteran 2 (Guest), Unnamed Veteran 3 (Guest), Unnamed Veteran 4 (Guest).

What is "Firsthand Survivor Accounts From The D-Day Landings" about?

What is mentioned in this Timeline - World History Documentaries episode?

7 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including D-Day, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Omaha Beach, Atlantic Wall, Utah Beach, 82nd Airborne. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Firsthand Survivor Accounts From The D-Day Landings"?

The episode runs 53 min; the transcript is about 6,204 words in 77 timestamped sections.