1 00:00:00,030 --> 00:00:02,020 (Vernon Lingle) Hell. 2 00:00:04,030 --> 00:00:06,020 (Bob Fagan) Terrible. 3 00:00:07,190 --> 00:00:10,090 (Richard Heyman) I say longest day. 4 00:00:18,020 --> 00:00:22,199 (Heyman) I think I took off at about 10 o'clock that night on the 5th of June, 5 00:00:23,250 --> 00:00:29,880 and ah, we flew with the C-47s, C-46s and 6 00:00:29,900 --> 00:00:35,940 the gliders that were being towed down to northern France, to Normandy. 7 00:00:35,980 --> 00:00:40,550 We were assigned to any, any opposition that we could possibly strafe 8 00:00:40,600 --> 00:00:44,910 or if we could watch for enemy fighters coming. There was enough light reflected, 9 00:00:44,950 --> 00:00:50,929 we could see the white -- their nylon parachutes. They saturated 10 00:00:51,429 --> 00:00:56,209 the place. But those fellows suffered terrific casualties. 11 00:00:58,780 --> 00:01:01,350 We were over the beaches. We could see the ships that were 12 00:01:02,809 --> 00:01:05,420 going in to land. You could see them blowing up 13 00:01:05,520 --> 00:01:10,900 and see the troops running from, trying to get to protect themselves. 14 00:01:12,200 --> 00:01:16,900 (Lingle) We were supposed to be in the first wave, and ah 15 00:01:18,370 --> 00:01:25,529 we came down the beach, heading for it, and there was so much fire, I guess, 16 00:01:25,700 --> 00:01:33,250 they called it. German 88-millimeter shells, which is quite a blast. 17 00:01:34,250 --> 00:01:36,070 And ah, they called us off. 18 00:01:39,970 --> 00:01:42,259 At the time we headed for the beach, 19 00:01:43,229 --> 00:01:47,750 I turned the helm over to the quartermaster. 20 00:01:47,759 --> 00:01:52,900 I'm supposed to run down and go out on one of those ramps 21 00:01:52,900 --> 00:01:56,320 that the, that the troops are gonna go on 22 00:01:56,860 --> 00:02:02,660 and go down with an anchor, a small anchor and a shovel. 23 00:02:03,120 --> 00:02:06,920 But the water was too deep, and I got called back, 24 00:02:08,260 --> 00:02:10,680 and I know it was a good thing I did, because 25 00:02:10,730 --> 00:02:15,970 that shell burst was what was killing a bunch of people in the water. 26 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:19,490 You get rid of that load, and you go back out to the troop carrier ship 27 00:02:19,690 --> 00:02:23,900 and get another load. I don’t know how many loads we took in. 28 00:02:26,689 --> 00:02:30,680 (Fagan) On the boat, when we was approaching the beach 29 00:02:31,080 --> 00:02:34,450 one of the guys was seasick. He got sick. He was on machine gun 30 00:02:34,010 --> 00:02:38,879 on the left side of the boat, which - and I was on the right side, 31 00:02:39,579 --> 00:02:42,559 and he got so sick he couldn't do it, so they moved me on his side. 32 00:02:42,659 --> 00:02:52,529 When our boat was, I'd say 100 yards out, it was hit by Germans’ artillery, 33 00:02:52,629 --> 00:02:55,990 and the ramp fell, so we had to get out, 34 00:02:56,000 --> 00:02:58,730 and the guy that I replaced, he was killed. 35 00:02:59,190 --> 00:03:02,730 We jumped in water neck-deep and lost all our equipment, 36 00:03:02,830 --> 00:03:08,969 so we waded and swam out onto the beach, but we were lucky we didn’t get killed 37 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:10,869 because like I said, the bodies were floating all around us 38 00:03:10,920 --> 00:03:12,000 as we was going through. 39 00:03:12,010 --> 00:03:14,540 The water was red of blood. 40 00:03:15,380 --> 00:03:19,940 (Heyman) We could see the troops -- thousands and thousands of troops 41 00:03:17,540 --> 00:03:24,680 all along, from Cherbourg over to Dunkirk area. 42 00:03:24,680 --> 00:03:29,509 Just can't describe the valor of those people that were facing that. 43 00:03:27,590 --> 00:03:32,539 It was just horrendous. 44 00:03:32,109 --> 00:03:35,920 They were something else. They were so gallant. 45 00:03:40,390 --> 00:03:43,550 There wasn't anything for us to do because we didn’t dare strafe the beaches 46 00:03:44,150 --> 00:03:47,660 or do any firing like that because we didn't want to hit our own troops. 47 00:03:47,660 --> 00:03:51,430 We just wanted to be there in case any enemy fighters showed up. 48 00:03:52,850 --> 00:03:56,840 (Fagan ) We dug a foxhole, crawled in it for two – a day and a half. 49 00:03:57,640 --> 00:04:01,030 Because the Germans were in a pillbox up here and we were down here. 50 00:04:01,130 --> 00:04:03,960 No food, no water and wet clothes. 51 00:04:04,030 --> 00:04:07,930 Artillery finally knocked the pillbox out where these Germans were hiding, 52 00:04:08,330 --> 00:04:12,700 and we managed to get out. So, we start drifting on 53 00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:16,939 through from little town to another until we made it out. 54 00:04:17,139 --> 00:04:20,590 (Lingle) Seeing all those guys laying on that beach dead, 55 00:04:20,690 --> 00:04:25,699 I feel lucky every day of my life. I feel lucky about that. 56 00:04:26,990 --> 00:04:29,500 ( Heyman) But there was a lot of sadness involved. 57 00:04:30,899 --> 00:04:35,290 We recognized it when we came back home and I’d run into parents 58 00:04:36,490 --> 00:04:38,810 of fellas who had been lost there. 59 00:04:39,059 --> 00:04:43,629 Their sons had done a great job. They had done more than their part. 60 00:04:43,689 --> 00:04:45,580 They were just heroes. 61 00:04:45,780 --> 00:04:49,999 You know what -- our country and the rest of the Allies 62 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:53,870 were doing their jobs, and we were proud of it.