Page 58 - Anthology

We knew about D-Day and now we were going in behind them to provide relief and support. The day
before crossing the channel I was sick. I was worried, and I did not want to go. Didn’t anybody want to
go, and I didn’t either. We knew where we were going. We were going to fight; we were going to battle in
Normandy, France, only about three weeks after D-Day.

Landing Craft Infantry (LCI)

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We were on LCI – Landing Craft Infantry – they let the tailgate down and the water went about knee
deep. We landed on the coast where D-Day had been. And let me tell you, that cliff was steep. We
finally found a place where we could get up. We only stayed in France a day or two before we went into
the battle. Let me tell you about the hedgerows . That’s where we were fighting – the hedgerows. They
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had holes in them where we could get through, but that was a sad thing. We was fighting behind one
hedgerow and the Germans were just one hedgerow away. We was supposed to withdraw one
hedgerow, but we withdrew two. The hedgerows did provide cover; the hedge was three or four feet high
and then the trees on top of that.

We were told to believe that this was going to be an easy thing. Our intelligence said there were not
many Germans. It was going to be easy and we were going to knock the Germans out right off and have
a hot breakfast the next morning.

But it didn’t go like they thought it would. Our lines was so close to the Germans that our artillery would
fire and we would get tree burst (the explosion of a projectile on contact with some part of a tree
showering fragments down on the surrounding area) of our artillery shells bursting in the tree-tops,
spraying metal down like rain on us.

It was only about a week to ten days before we were withdrawing and were captured. I had told a
sergeant that I could see the Germans running past us on down the line there. I told him that we were
going to get surrounded. He told me that K Company was down there and for me to concentrate on what
was in front of me. But we got surrounded and that was why we were withdrawing. They were shooting at
us from every angle and we had no place to go.

We were led by a Lieutenant Colonel, he was there with us. There was a little path like out on a country
road. He was the leader. We went out on that road, and we run right into the Germans; right smack dab
into them. The colonel said we will have to drop our arms and put our hands up. That was funny, he
meant we had to drop our weapons and put our hands up, but he said drop our arms and put our hands
up – that sounded funny to me, but that is what he said. It was funny. So, that’s where we were. I’d
been hit already in the shoulder and couldn’t get any help. The medic was hit in both legs and when I ask
for help, he told me he couldn’t because he was hit.