D-Day Remembrance

Ron wrote an express-times letter to the editor on May 29, 2014, paying tribute to his dad, who was a WWII veteran:

Seventy years ago next week, we remember the great invasion that began the beginning of the end for Nazi Germany. More than 10,000 Americans died during the initial days of the D-Day invasion. Five days after June 6 my father went ashore at Omaha Beach without a rifle. Asked about this lack of a weapon, my dad's lieutenant said "you will find one ashore by and by." The rifles were piled high from the dead GIs who needed them no longer.

Dad fought at the battle of St. Lo, holding the line as a sergeant leading his squad, which was surrounded by German troops in the small Battle of Mortain, fixing bayonets and steadying his men for hand-to-hand combat. Dad lived through many other battles and skirmishes across France and Belgium only to be wounded byshrapnel outside the German city of Aachen.

As he was carried off the battlefield he made the medics get his helmet. "Brother," said the corpsman, "where you are going you won't need that helmet." Dad spent the next five months recovering in an English hospital. On every Memorial Day or June 6, the anniversary of D-Day, I would call dad to see how he was doing, always ending the conversation thanking him for his service and sacrifice. Dad died two years ago, so I write this today as a personal thank you from me to all the veterans who served and sacrificed. Thank you, Dad.