by June 6th saw parts of six US divisions arrive in Normandy. The 82nd Airborne Division and 101st Airborne Division had been dropped on the Normandy just after midnight while parts of the 1st, 4th, and 29th Infantry Divisions along with two Ranger battalions landed in the early hours of the morning on Omaha and Utah beaches. A beachhead was established on Utah Beach by mid-morning and elements of the 90th Infantry Division began arriving by early afternoon. It took longer to establish a beachhead at Omaha Beach due to heavier resistance with many exits from the beach not opened until almost evening.
The first units ashore or on land have gotten most of the attention in the Battle of Normandy. They rightly deserve this attention as landing on a hostile beach or behind the beaches in the dark of night is a terrifying task. That said, this post will given attention to the follow-on units that arrived in June and July of 1944. Part of my reasoning is that they don’t get this attention and the other part is that my sister-in-law’s father who passed away in April at age 102 was a member of one of these units.
June 7th or D + 1 saw the first of what would be a total of five infantry and two armored divisions arrive in Normandy. That was the 2nd Infantry Division which landed on Omaha Beach. The entire division was ashore by June 12th. They were soon joined on June 9th by the 2nd Armored Division who attacked towards to Cotentin Peninsula. D + 4 saw both the 9th and 30th Infantry Divisions arrive in France with the 9th headed towards Cherbourg and the 30th into the bocage. Two days later the 79th Infantry Division arrived and likewise headed towards Cherbourg. The final two units to arrive in June were the 83rd Infantry Division on the 18th and the 3rd Armored Division on the 23rd. Both of these units fought in the hedgerows or bocage of Normandy and helped with the breakout.
Early July saw both the 8th and 35th Infantry Divisions arrive in France. The 8th was soon in action helping to capture the cities of Brest and Rennes. As July progressed, three armored divisions, the 4th, 5th, and 6th, landed in France and were instrumental in closing the Falaise Gap. The final infantry division to participate in the Battle of Normandy was the 28th Infantry Division which arrived on July 22nd to join Operation Cobra.
Of particular interest to me is the 8th Infantry Division. Walter Driscoll, my sister-in-law’s father, was assigned to 3rd Platoon Mortar Squad, Co. A, 1st Battalion, 121st Regiment, 8th Infantry Division as a PFC. He passed away at the age of 102 on April 1st just short of his 103rd birthday. A native of Massachusetts, he was married for 58 years, raised three daughters (two of whom served as officers in the USAF Nurse Corps), had eight grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.
Walter was wounded in action in Normandy and carried the shrapnel in his hand throughout the rest of his life. That shrapnel was recovered after his cremation by the funeral director and presented to the family. He tells the story of how he was wounded in the oral history video below. The French subtitles are due to this being a project of the World War II Veterans Memories located in Normandy.
There are not many of these veterans still alive and that Walter made it to 102 was remarkable in and of itself. We should be grateful that a number of their stories have been captured either in video or audio format. Without that, the human element would be lost and our knowledge of these events would be confined to the history books.
I had a friend who went ashore on D-Day. He had already fought across Africa, into Sicily, then around to England for D-Day. 1st Div.
He told the story of another soldier with him. They had left the boat on a sandbar, rather than the beach. The other soldier had a mortar plate on his back. As they approached the beach, they went into water that was over their heads. He never saw the other guy again. The mortar plate sunk him.
My friend was a very kind gentleman, but when you saw his medals. there was a bronze star.
My uncle and my ex father in law were both from my small village in Michigan. It is named Hesperia, no relation to the one in California.
They were both drivers(pilots)? if landing craft, I think called the Higgens boat, but not sure. They and their wives were very close friends after the war, until my uncle died of a brain aneurysm.
The only thing I have from my uncle’s time in the Navy, was when he was stationed in London for one month. It is a newspaper clipping, interviewing him, and he said that the people there were nothing but super kind and friendly to all of the Americans who were there. But he also said that in the roughly 1 month he was there, the city of London was hit with the German bombing that we have all seen in television. He told the interviewer that it was the worst thing he has ever experienced, and never wanted to go through it ever again. From the way he answered, he had nothing but respect for all of the London civilians, who came out in the morning to try and find the dead or wounded, and th help each other to have a home to sleep in for the coming night.
I wish that our younger Americans could stand on a hilltop watching some of the brave men charging the beach into near certain.death, willing cannon fodder,bin order that they might sleep in freedom each night, freedom to hold their vile, inhumane at times protest signs and chants. These same citizens who scream at the first perceived slight, be it a simple miss use of their desired pronoun, or a ban on drag queen story time for kids.
With Memorial day just over, I have been thinking about the thousands of loved and the families back home, who don’t have the luxury of waking up to that day filled with promise, or with any goal to change the world, that many seem to have. Instead they wake up with the same empty spot in their heart that no amount of time or counselling or prayer, etc. will ever fill. And I don’t know if they even think about the protestors, even the ones who go so far as to protest the deceased ones funeral, in the name of God. I am a strong Christian, and was a Baptist, even a deacon in a Baptist church, and in my years of study I have never seen the example of such things. I have seen many times in the Scriptures that we are to show love and compassion.
I think of the verse in the Bible, the shortest verse there is. Jesus Christ Wept. I understand that He was weeping for the unbelief of so many in the crowd, who wanted a miracle, as proof of His power. In other words, a.magic trick to remain them. It seems as if we are not so much different today.
War is a horrific thing that should never be entered into lightly. I fear that by America being involved in Ukraine we have entered a folly which we will be unable to extract from,until we just up and leave, which will leave the Ukraine in worse shape than if we never got involved.
I am reminded of the words of Colin Powell, in his job of selling the gulf war to the American people. This single statement stood out, and while he is not my favorite, he
at least in some ways was truthful. He said “If you break it, you have bought it.”. Oh, how right he was. One only needs to look back and see who got rich from the war on two fronts. Now look at who is getting rich with a war in Ukraine. Sending them 40 billion dollars is not writing them a check. It is buying a million rounds of ammo for the rifles and carbines we already sent them. Where does all of these materials come from? American manufactures, who have plants in Senators and Representatives home states, who both want to have more jobs and taxes in their state. Service contracts like blankets, water, food, and other civilian assistant programs, that are not in the aid package, but who president Zelinski would ensure goes to the right company to gain positive votes. While this crap is nothing new, my tolerance level seems to be growing less day by day. With the president election coming soon, I think it will be a test of whether or not America as it is today has a chance to survive. I might have thought that to be hyperbolic just a year or so back. But things are going ever more quickly than I thought possible, and it is just my opinion. I don’t have a crystal ball,but is more of a but feeling that things cannot remain the way they are. Too many other nations have their sights aimed at us, for us to grow any weaker and not have someone test our resolve.