June 6th, 1944, we were on the HMAS castlemaine boat, our General, Dwight D. Eisenhower, was about done with his speech and was ready to send us in. We were in our Landing Craft Assault boats, heading towards the Omaha beach in Normandy, France. In our LCA boats we fit about 15-20 men but, when we go to Omaha there will be 30,000 soldiers, if we all make it in alive. I was facing the battle known as operation D-Day. We were all huddled in the LCA boat as we were going onto Omaha beach, men were most likely thinking about their families, but I was thinking about if I could survive. My thinking was suddenly interrupted by the most terrifying sounds. I heard screaming, bullets, and worst of all… explosions. I saw the enemy bunkers (or as my friends call them, pillboxes) filled with MG 08 (machine guns) and German men, as soon as I had looked at them, one of the German troops started shooting at us. The bullets were flying and ripping the LCA apart, quickly, I had jumped out of the boat and swam my way to shore like the other troops had done. …show more content…
As soon as I was on shore I started running to get some protection from the MG’s.
I saw some stacked wood and other protection, I ran to the nearest and biggest protection. Going for the stacked wood was the best choice because, it would collect the bullets that were being shot. I grabbed my M1 garand and started to load it with ammunition. As I quickly got prepared, I took a quick breather. As I was in the the middle of deep breathing I noticed there was a little hole from a bullet in one of the lodged pieces of wood. I grabbed my knife and started to scrape the hole to fit my barrel inside. I looked from inside the hole with my scope, I saw men running and falling from the flying bullets that had entered their body and
out. I aim my scope into one of the watchtowers, there were about 8 German men in each tower. A few minutes fly by as I'm was trying to get in the right position that would be most effective for shooting, when suddenly 2 German scopes are aiming towards me. I rapidly pull the trigger to their direction. By the time I was out of ammunition I swung the barrel out of it’s hole and peek out of the side of the wood. All I saw was a bloody, wretched, watch tower with only 4 Germans left, all of them stunned. I decide that I have to move somewhere else cause once they snap back into it, their keeping their eyes on me. It was too late, their eyes were laid upon me. I ran to the nearest trench that had already been cleared out and taken by American troops but, a Nazi pulls the trigger and hits my arm. I screamed in pain, as I dig my feet into the sand to comfort me. There were no medics around so I had to push through the pain.
It was 1944, and the United States had now been an active participant in the war against Nazi Germany for almost three and a half years, nearly six years for the British. During that period occurred a string of engagements fought with ferocious determination and intensity on both sides. There is however, one day which stands out in the minds of many American servicemen more often than others. June 6, 1944, D-Day, was a day in which thousands of young American boys, who poured onto the beaches of Utah and Omaha, became men faster than they would have ever imagined possible. Little did they know of the chaos and the hell which awaited them on their arrival. Over the course of a few hours, the visions of Omaha and Utah Beaches, and the death and destruction accompanied with them formed a permanent fixation in the minds of the American Invaders. The Allied invasion of Europe began on the 6th of June 1944, and the American assault on Utah and Omaha beaches on this day played a critical role in the overall success of the operation. (Astor 352)
Bullets flying through the air right over me, my knees are shaking, and my feet are numb. I see familiar faces all around me dodging the explosives illuminating the air like lightning. Unfortunately, numerous familiar faces seem to disappear into the trenches. I try to run from the noise, but my mind keeps causing me to re-illustrate the painful memories left behind.
Omaha beach was invaded on June tenth. On Omaha beach, one of the most chaotic parts of the battle, the United States first infantry went through the worst part of the landings out of any of the beaches. Their Sherman tanks had been mostly lost before they reached the shore. The three hundred and fifty second division was some of the best trained on the beaches. Within ten minutes, every officer and Sargent had been wounded or killed. The division had over four thousand casualties.
LILLYMAN, FRANK L. Report of D-Day Pathfinder Activities. July 1, 1944. http://www.6juin1944.com/assaut/aeropus/en_page.php?page=after_pathf_101 (accessed March 27, 2012).
In the early morning of 19 February 1945, United States Marines assigned to the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine Division led the initial assault on the Japanese controlled island of Iwo Jima, with the objective of capturing and securing the island. This was the beginning of one of the fiercest and bloodiest; and more decisively, the most strategically important battles fought during World War II. After the dust had settled, and the smoke had cleared, the causalities and losses were astounding. 6,821 U.S. Marines along with 18,844 members of the Imperial Japanese Army had paid the ultimate sacrifice. A decisive US victory on the island of Iwo Jima later played a pivotal role in the overarching defeat of the Japanese Empire and its Armed Forces (Morison, 1945).
I was walking thinking about what I was gonna eat for breakfast when a large dark shadow flies over the ship. Before I can comprehend was going on, a explosion hit the USS Arizona directly behind us. I see many bombs hitting the Arizona and it suddenly becomes engulfed in flames. The ship burns and finally sinks to the floor of the ocean. The men on my ship sat there and tried to understand what had happened. I knew something was not right and I was very scared. I hear Admiral Kimmel, who is in charge of the base, send out a dispatch. He said, “AIR RAID ON PEARL HARBOR X THIS IS NOT A DRILL.” I became full of fear. Then, comes flying in a bomb directly hitting Turret III, and I thought my life was coming to an
D-Day: The Climate Battle of World War II. Stephen Ambrose, a historian of the Second World War and biographer of his idol, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ambrose also wrote the book D-Day: The Climate Battle of World War II. His book was published June 1, 1994, this was written in honor of the 50th anniversary of D-day. Most of his book was based on files of interviews he had previously done while at the Eisenhower Center at the University of New Orleans.
This date in history has now been termed D-Day. Codenamed Operation Overlord, the campaign to take Western Europe back from German hands was as Winston Churchill stated “undoubtedly the most complicated and difficult’ ever undertaken.” After many hard fought years of fighting Hitler and his axis powers, the military leaders of the allied forces with the accommodation of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) planned an assault on the Western front of Europe through France to create a two front war, and gain a quick route into Germany. Operation Overlord was to be conducted in two phases: Operation Pointblank, an airborne assault to infiltrate German lines and meet up with the troops from Operation Neptune, the amphibious assault on the beaches of Normandy. Hitler knew of a possible invasion, but German intelligence had the assault coming from the Pas de Calais to the north. This mission had no backup plan; four years of fighting all came down to one day. 5,000 boats carrying 150,000 Americans, Brits and Canadians into the teeth of German occupied Normandy beach. There was no alternative, no looking back it was win or die.
June 6th, 1944, the day people say was a terrible and horrific day. The day many lives were lost but heroes were born. This day in history we know as D-Day. The book by Stephen E. Ambrose tells us that more than one hundred and sixty thousand troops were deployed and landed among a fifty mile stretch across the beaches of Normandy. Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which, “we will accept nothing less than full victory.” More than five-thousands Ships and thirteen-thousand aircraft supported the D-Day invasion, and by day’s end, the Allies gained a foot-hold in Continental Europe. The cost in lives on D-Day was high. More than nine-thousand Allied Soldiers were killed or wounded, but their sacrifice allowed more than one-hundred
I have finally done it. Guilt travels through my veins and weighs down my heart like bricks. I have taken the a life of a human being. Breaking the sixth amendment, I had played God. Choosing the time that John Dawson was to go. This made me think back to just before the first time that I had taken part in this terrorist group. I had to make a superhuman effort not to be sick at my stomach, I found myself utterly hateful. Seeing myself with the eyes of the past I imagined that I was in the dark gray uniform of an SS officer. I am no better than the Nazis who killed my people. I have become what was once my adversary. What I once despised. I cannot comprehend what I have done. For, I can still recall my first mission. We ambushed a convoy. The first truck blown up and the soldiers from the other trucks scrambled to find
The time finally came today, US Forces attacked the on the beaches of Normandy at 6:30 am June 6, 1944. The source on scene proclaimed its intensity and gruesomeness… By dawn this morning, there were already thousands of paratroopers and glider troops already on the ground behind enemy lines, securing bridges and exit roads. Once we arrived at Omaha beach the U.S. forces faced heavy resistance and many casualties are being reported. Bomb’s were dropping from 2000 feet and our troops on the ground invading the beaches and starting to push their way inland.
When I was seventeen I nervously traveled about 350 miles from my sleepy little home town of Freedom, Wyoming to the relatively enormous city of Boise, Idaho to go to the Military Entrance Processing Station. This wasn 't the first time I had been this far from home by myself, but it was the first time I was making adult decisions without my parents involvement. When it came time for me to choose my job in the army the counselors presented me with a long list that I qualified for. I got tired of scrolling and reading so I chose the first job that I actually understood. I returned home and excitedly told my parents that I would be an infantry soldier. My dad 's response to this might be considered a little less than heart warming “You dumb ass. Why didn 't you choose
Thesis: The war overseas, but there are millions of veterans still fighting the war at home.
It was 1941 and I was located at Ford Island Naval Air Station located in Oahu, Hawaii. It was located in the middle of Pearl Harbor. I was awakened to the sound of explosions bombarding my ears. I quickly got up onto my feet and felt the ground tremble beneath me. I threw on my gear hurriedly with my fingers tightened around my gun and ran outside. There was commotion everywhere. I was aboard the USS Maryland. It was morning and we were under attack. I looked up at the sky and it was swamped with a string of planes heading towards the island. On the side of the plane, it was etched ...
Growing up I was never good in sports but when it came to a video game called “Battlefield” I was untouchable. I remember two years ago I was on a 64 player kill streak and then sadly I lost connection to the server I was so mad that I kicked a huge hole in the wall. I was to scare to tell my dad so I just didn’t say anything it took him a whole year to find out. There are a lot of memories about me and my family but you really only remember the good and the bad ones the rest just fades away.