Memorial Day

It is, in a way an odd thing to honor those who died in defense of our country....in wars far away.  The imagination plays a trick.  We see these soldiers in our mind as old and wise.  We see them as something like the Founding Fathers, grave and gray haired.

But most of them were boys when they died, and they gave up two lives - the one they were living and one they would have lived...

- Ronald Reagan

Originally called Decoration Day - Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for those who have died in service to our country.

There is an American Cemetery and Memorial located in Colleville-sur-Mer on the bluff overlooking Omaha Beach in Normandy, France.  Dedicated in 1956 the Cemetery and Memorial is situated closely to the site of the temporary American St. Laurent Cemetery, established by the U.S. First Army on June 8, 1944 - the first American cemetery on European soil in World War II.  

This is the final resting place of 9,388 of our military dead - most of whom lost their lives in the D-Day landings and ensuing operations.  If you were to visit this place you will note that upon the walls of the Garden of the Missing are inscribed an additional 1,557 names.  And because old battlefields continue to yield their dead - rosettes mark the names of those since recovered and identified.

In Plot E Row 26 Grave 37 rests James D. Johnston - Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army, 47th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division.  Jill and I walked this sacred place on a typical rainy Norman morning and while I have no direct connection to James Johnston, his life before the war, or his survivors following the war what you can discern from the marker is that Johnston was from North Carolina and was a commander in the same division and infantry regiment my dad served.  

Some of you know that my father landed at Utah Beach as an infantry replacement.  He was a machine gunner in a heavy weapons platoon.  Dad fought in the battle of the hedgerows, the breakout at Saint-Lô and Patton's mad dash across northern France.  His participation in the liberation of Belgium was interrupted by wounds incurred in combat.  Following his recovery in England he served for a brief period in the US Army of Occupation in Germany.

Dad returned home from the war and lived a full and rewarding life. He worked quietly in a public school system and never spoke about his war experiences in any great detail until I was in college. I am alive today to muse about this subject because he survived.  James Johnston never had the opportunity to sit on the stoop and share closely-guarded feelings about the war with a son.  

This is why Memorial Day is personal to me.

A bit of reading reveals that Johnston died from wounds suffered from the detonation of a German 88mm shell at the blood-stained Crossroads 114 near Acqueville just outside of Cherbourg.  Death in combat was fickle in the skirmishes and battle for mere meters in the uneven and mixed woodlands and pastures of the Bocage.  PFC Gaertner survived - Lt Col Johnston did not.

When it came time for a permanent burial, the families of the dead were asked if they wanted their loved ones repatriated for permanent burial in the U.S. or interred overseas.  Lieutenant Colonel Johnston's remains lie here with approximately 461 graves belonging to 9th Infantry Division G.I.s.

Today it is useful to remember and honor the lives that brave men and women sacrificed.  

Both of those lives.
 

click on images for a closer look

 

 

_{*Eight Stars to Victory - Mittelman, The Battery Press}

 

D-Day Advance

80h anniversary - then and now....

Quote Of The Day

We in America have learned bitter lessons from two World Wars: It is better to be here ready to protect the peace, than to take blind shelter across the sea, rushing to respond only after freedom is lost. We’ve learned that isolationism never was and never will be an acceptable response to tyrannical governments with an expansionist intent . . .

But for now, particularly today, it is good and fitting to renew our commitment to each other, to our freedom, and to the alliance that protects it. 

Here, in this place where the West held together, let us make a vow to our dead. Let us show them by our actions that we understand what they died for.

-President Ronald Reagan - D-Day 40th Anniversary

Memorial Day

It is, in a way an odd thing to honor those who died in defense of our country, in defense of us, in wars far away.  The imagination plays a trick.  We see these soldiers in our mind as old and wise.  We see them as something like the Founding Fathers, grave and gray haired.         

But most of them were boys when they died, and they gave up two lives - the one they were living and one they would have lived.       

When they died, they gave up their chance to be husbands and fathers and grandfathers.  They gave up their chance to be revered old men.  They gave up everything for our country, for us.  And all we can do is remember.    

 - Ronald Reagan

 

Originally called Decoration Day - Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for those who have died in service to our country.                          

There is an American Cemetery and Memorial located in Colleville-sur-Mer on the bluff overlooking Omaha Beach in Normandy, France.  Dedicated in 1956 the Cemetery and Memorial is situated closely to the site of the temporary American St. Laurent Cemetery, established by the U.S. First Army on June 8, 1944 - the first American cemetery on European soil in World War II.              

This is the final resting place of 9,388 of our military dead - most of whom lost their lives in the D-Day landings and ensuing operations.  If you were to visit this place you will note that upon the walls of the Garden of the Missing are inscribed an additional 1,557 names.  And because old battlefields continue to yield their dead - rosettes mark the names of those since recovered and identified.              

In Plot E Row 26 Grave 37 rests James D. Johnston - Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army, 47th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division.   

Jill and I walked this sacred place on a typical rainy Norman morning and while I have no connection to James Johnston, his life before the war, or his survivors following the war, what you can discern from the marker is that Johnston was from North Carolina and was a commander in the same division and infantry regiment my dad served.  

       

Howard Gaertner landed at Utah Beach as an infantry replacement.  He was a machine gunner in a heavy weapons platoon.  Dad fought in the battle of the hedgerows, the breakout at Saint-Lô and Patton's mad dash across northern France.  

Among the first allied troops to participate in the liberation of Belgium his European excursion ended less than three months later by wounds incurred in combat.  By the grace of God (and fortunately for me) he was not killed.  Following his recovery in England he was redeployed and served for a brief period in the US Army of Occupation in Germany.        

 

Johnston died from wounds suffered from the detonation of a German 88mm shell at the blood-stained Crossroads 114 near Acqueville just outside of Cherbourg.*  Death in combat was fickle in the skirmishes and battle for mere meters in the uneven and mixed woodlands and pastures of the Bocage.  Lt Col Johnston was killed - PFC Gaertner was not. 

Dad returned home from the war and lived a full and rewarding life.  He worked quietly in a public school system and never spoke about his war experiences in any great detail until I was well into adulthood.  I am alive today to muse about this subject because he survived.  James Johnston never had the opportunity to sit on the stoop with a a beer and share closely-guarded feelings about the war with a son.        

This is why Memorial Day is bit more personal for me.        

When it came time for a permanent burial, the families of the dead were asked if they wanted their loved ones repatriated for permanent burial in the U.S. or interred overseas.  Lieutenant Colonel Johnston's remains lie here with approximately 461 graves belonging to 9th Infantry Division G.I.s.           

On this holiday it is useful to remember and honor the lives that brave men and women sacrificed.

Both of those lives.   

 

 

 *Eight Stars to Victory - Mittelman, The Battery Press

 

 

What's The Difference?

Armed Forces Day

Thanks to President Harry S. Truman, we have Armed Forces Day; a military day of recognition that occurs on the third Saturday in May. While this is a lesser-known day, and not a federal holiday, this is the day to honor those currently serving in all six branches of the U.S. military.

Memorial Day

Memorial Day honors Americans who died while in military service. It's a day that allows us to remember our fallen heroes. This federal holiday was formerly known as Decoration Day and was first enacted to honor Union and Confederate soldiers after the Civil War. At the end of World War I, it has evolved to honor American service members who have died in all wars.

Veterans Day

Veterans Day is a public holiday observed each year on November 11, the anniversary of the end of World War I. It is a day for honoring military veterans; that is, persons who have served in the United States Armed Forces. Veterans Day replaced Armistice Day in 1954. 

Requiem For My Kevin

In the run up before his bid for Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy made a pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago to show his support for former president Trump and schmooze with his allies.  Earlier this year Trump blessed his bid for House Speaker and bestowed-upon him the nickname My Kevin.  On the fifteenth ballot, with 216 votes, McCarthy became Speaker off the US House of Representatives.

Then this happened last week.

Predictably, Florida Representative Matt Gaetz filed a motion to vacate and it passed 216 to 210 with the unanimous support of house democrats and eight republican mutineers.  McCarthy became the first speaker removed from office.

And Donald Trump did not pull his bacon out of the fire.  

What gives? 

 

In the wake of McCarthy's ouster this photo has been making the rounds on the interweb.

It is the cover of Young Guns - a wonky 2010 dissertation authored by then House members Paul Ryan, Eric Cantor and Kevin McCarthy.  

My recollection was this was the splashy debut of the GOP's rising stars.  The standard-bearing triumvirate of the Grand Old Party.  A new generation of policy-focused conservative leaders representing the bright future of the party.

Ryan served as Speaker for four years, Cantor two years and McCarthy nine months.    

A short thirteen years later this reads like an obituary.

 

The GOP is now the party of Trump. 

The party of Reagan is dead.  Neo-conservatives on life support. There will be no more wonky treatises about extending the life of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.  No  serious policy discussions over trade.  Fiscal discipline?  Nope.  If there is a party platform it is a promise to advance election denialism, generalized grievance and a promise of retribution.

Earlier this year I predicted 2023 would have very few dull moments.

Stay-tuned.....

__________________________________________________________________________

There is a population of conservatives, Republicans, center-right individuals and independent-minded voters who place a high value on facts and the truth. Marginalized because they refuse to embrace baseless conspiracy theories nor demonstrate sufficient fealty and obeisance to the former guy - exile is their cross to bear. 

Memorial Day

It is, in a way an odd thing to honor those who died in defense of our country, in defense of us, in wars far away.  The imagination plays a trick.  We see these soldiers in our mind as old and wise.  We see them as something like the Founding Fathers, grave and gray haired.         

  

But most of them were boys when they died, and they gave up two lives - the one they were living and one they would have lived.       

When they died, they gave up their chance to be husbands and fathers and grandfathers.  They gave up their chance to be revered old men.  They gave up everything for our country, for us.  And all we can do is remember.    

 - Ronald Reagan

 

Originally called Decoration Day - Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for those who have died in service to our country.                          

There is an American Cemetery and Memorial located in Colleville-sur-Mer on the bluff overlooking Omaha Beach in Normandy, France.  Dedicated in 1956 the Cemetery and Memorial is situated closely to the site of the temporary American St. Laurent Cemetery, established by the U.S. First Army on June 8, 1944 - the first American cemetery on European soil in World War II.              

This is the final resting place of 9,388 of our military dead - most of whom lost their lives in the D-Day landings and ensuing operations.  If you were to visit this place you will note that upon the walls of the Garden of the Missing are inscribed an additional 1,557 names.  And because old battlefields continue to yield their dead - rosettes mark the names of those since recovered and identified.              

In Plot E Row 26 Grave 37 rests James D. Johnston - Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army, 47th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division.   

Jill and I walked this sacred place on a typical rainy Norman morning and while I have no connection to James Johnston, his life before the war, or his survivors following the war, what you can discern from the marker is that Johnston was from North Carolina and was a commander in the same division and infantry regiment my dad served.  

       

Howard Gaertner landed at Utah Beach as an infantry replacement.  He was a machine gunner in a heavy weapons platoon.  Dad fought in the battle of the hedgerows, the breakout at Saint-Lô and Patton's mad dash across northern France.  

Among the first allied troops to participate in the liberation of Belgium his European excursion ended less than three months later by wounds incurred in combat.  By the grace of God (and fortunately for me) he was not killed.  Following his recovery in England he was redeployed and served for a brief period in the US Army of Occupation in Germany.        

 

Johnston died from wounds suffered from the detonation of a German 88mm shell at the blood-stained Crossroads 114 near Acqueville just outside of Cherbourg.*  Death in combat was fickle in the skirmishes and battle for mere meters in the uneven and mixed woodlands and pastures of the Bocage.  Lt Col Johnston was killed - PFC Gaertner was not. 

Dad returned home from the war and lived a full and rewarding life.  He worked quietly in a public school system and never spoke about his war experiences in any great detail until I was well into adulthood.  I am alive today to muse about this subject because he survived.  James Johnston never had the opportunity to sit on the stoop with a a beer and share closely-guarded feelings about the war with a son.        

This is why Memorial Day is bit more personal for me.        

When it came time for a permanent burial, the families of the dead were asked if they wanted their loved ones repatriated for permanent burial in the U.S. or interred overseas.  Lieutenant Colonel Johnston's remains lie here with approximately 461 graves belonging to 9th Infantry Division G.I.s.           

On this holiday it is useful to remember and honor the lives that brave men and women sacrificed.

Both of those lives.   

 

 

 *Eight Stars to Victory - Mittelman, The Battery Press

 

Memorial Day

It is, in a way an odd thing to honor those who died in defense of our country, in defense of us, in wars far away.  The imagination plays a trick.  We see these soldiers in our mind as old and wise.  We see them as something like the Founding Fathers, grave and gray haired.         

  

But most of them were boys when they died, and they gave up two lives - the one they were living and one they would have lived.       

When they died, they gave up their chance to be husbands and fathers and grandfathers.  They gave up their chance to be revered old men.  They gave up everything for our country, for us.  And all we can do is remember.    

 - Ronald Reagan

 

Originally called Decoration Day - Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for those who have died in service to our country.                          

There is an American Cemetery and Memorial located in Colleville-sur-Mer on the bluff overlooking Omaha Beach in Normandy, France.  Dedicated in 1956 the Cemetery and Memorial is situated closely to the site of the temporary American St. Laurent Cemetery, established by the U.S. First Army on June 8, 1944 - the first American cemetery on European soil in World War II.              

This is the final resting place of 9,388 of our military dead - most of whom lost their lives in the D-Day landings and ensuing operations.  If you were to visit this place you will note that upon the walls of the Garden of the Missing are inscribed an additional 1,557 names.  And because old battlefields continue to yield their dead - rosettes mark the names of those since recovered and identified.              

In Plot E Row 26 Grave 37 rests James D. Johnston - Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army, 47th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division.   

Jill and I walked this sacred place on a typical rainy Norman morning and while I have no connection to James Johnston, his life before the war, or his survivors following the war, what you can discern from the marker is that Johnston was from North Carolina and was a commander in the same division and infantry regiment my dad served.  

       

Howard Gaertner landed at Utah Beach as an infantry replacement.  He was a machine gunner in a heavy weapons platoon.  Dad fought in the battle of the hedgerows, the breakout at Saint-Lô and Patton's mad dash across northern France.  

Among the first allied troops to participate in the liberation of Belgium his European excursion ended less than three months later by wounds incurred in combat.  By the grace of God (and explains my writing this) he was not killed.  Following his recovery in England he was redeployed and served for a brief period in the US Army of Occupation in Germany.        

 

Johnston died from wounds suffered from the detonation of a German 88mm shell at the blood-stained Crossroads 114 near Acqueville just outside of Cherbourg.*  Death in combat was fickle in the skirmishes and battle for mere meters in the uneven and mixed woodlands and pastures of the Bocage.  Lt Col Johnston was killed - PFC Gaertner was not. 

Dad returned home from the war and lived a full and rewarding life.  He worked quietly in a public school system and never spoke about his war experiences in any great detail until I was well into adulthood.  I am alive today to muse about this subject because he survived.  James Johnston never had the opportunity to sit on the stoop with a a beer and share closely-guarded feelings about the war with a son.        

This is why Memorial Day is bit more personal for me.        

When it came time for a permanent burial, the families of the dead were asked if they wanted their loved ones repatriated for permanent burial in the U.S. or interred overseas.  Lieutenant Colonel Johnston's remains lie here with approximately 461 graves belonging to 9th Infantry Division G.I.s.           

On this holiday it is useful to remember and honor the lives that brave men and women sacrificed.

Both of those lives.   

 

 *Eight Stars to Victory - Mittelman, The Battery Press

 

Rules of Warfare

The California National Guard has had a close working relationship with the Ukraine military and national guard since 1993. It’s one of the many worldwide partnerships that multiple US states’ National Guard participate in.  Evidence of this partnership in training has played-out over the past five weeks.

It shows. 

After the dismantling of the Soviet Union, as Ukraine emerged as a sovereign nation, its military operated by the tactics and strict top-down strategy of the Soviet Union. 

The Russian military is still run on that Soviet model.

The Ukrainian military partnered with western armed forces, and trained in western military principles that empower strong on the ground leadership and ability for non commissioned officers and troops to make decisions in real time on battlefield. 

I listened to an interview of HR McMaster* the other day on Sirius XM radio and he juxtaposed civilized warfare (there is such a thing) with the undisciplined barbarity of the Soviet invaders. He not only pointed-out the unprofessional conduct of Russian military forces but he also shared his observation of the total breakdown of Russia's military command and control. He reminded Sirius listeners of the rules of war:

• No targeting of civilians

• No torture or inhumane treatment of detainees

• No attacking hospitals and aid workers

• Provide safe passages for civilian non-combatants to flee

• Provide access to humanitarian organizations

• No unnecessary or excessive loss and suffering

Having violated every single rule of warfare it appears that Russian barbarians have demonstrated that cruelty and depravity is an integral component to their manner of prosecuting a war.

Ukrainian forces know and understand the rules of conduct and warfare taught by our own citizen soldiers.

It shows. 

Thank you and respect to all of the citizen solders who serve and have participated in these exercises with our allies in other countries.

Especially to Ukraine for courage and fortitude...

 

*McMaster is a retired United States Army lieutenant general who served as the 26th United States National Security Advisor to President Trump from 2017 to 2018.

Famous Last Words

The Ukraine border guards who died defending an island in the Black Sea from an air and sea bombardment told an officer onboard a Russian navy warship to 'go fuck yourself' when asked to surrender.

Memorial Day

It is, in a way an odd thing to honor those who died in defense of our country, in defense of us, in wars far away.  The imagination plays a trick.  We see these soldiers in our mind as old and wise.  We see them as something like the Founding Fathers, grave and gray haired.         

  

But most of them were boys when they died, and they gave up two lives - the one they were living and one they would have lived.       

When they died, they gave up their chance to be husbands and fathers and grandfathers.  They gave up their chance to be revered old men.  They gave up everything for our country, for us.  And all we can do is remember.    

 - Ronald Reagan

 

Originally called Decoration Day - Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for those who have died in service to our country.                          

There is an American Cemetery and Memorial located in Colleville-sur-Mer on the bluff overlooking Omaha Beach in Normandy, France.  Dedicated in 1956 the Cemetery and Memorial is situated closely to the site of the temporary American St. Laurent Cemetery, established by the U.S. First Army on June 8, 1944 - the first American cemetery on European soil in World War II.              

This is the final resting place of 9,388 of our military dead - most of whom lost their lives in the D-Day landings and ensuing operations.  If you were to visit this place you will note that upon the walls of the Garden of the Missing are inscribed an additional 1,557 names.  And because old battlefields continue to yield their dead - rosettes mark the names of those since recovered and identified.              

In Plot E Row 26 Grave 37 rests James D. Johnston - Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army, 47th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division.   

Jill and I walked this sacred place on a typical rainy Norman morning and while I have no connection to James Johnston, his life before the war, or his survivors following the war, what you can discern from the marker is that Johnston was from North Carolina and was a commander in the same division and infantry regiment my dad served.  

       

Howard Gaertner landed at Utah Beach as an infantry replacement.  He was a machine gunner in a heavy weapons platoon.  Dad fought in the battle of the hedgerows, the breakout at Saint-Lô and Patton's mad dash across northern France.  

Among the first allied troops to participate in the liberation of Belgium his European excursion ended less than three months later by wounds incurred in combat.  By the grace of God (and fortunately for me) he was not killed.  Following his recovery in England he was redeployed and served for a brief period in the US Army of Occupation in Germany.        

 

Johnston died from wounds suffered from the detonation of a German 88mm shell at the blood-stained Crossroads 114 near Acqueville just outside of Cherbourg.*  Death in combat was fickle in the skirmishes and battle for mere meters in the uneven and mixed woodlands and pastures of the Bocage.  Lt Col Johnston was killed - PFC Gaertner was not. 

Dad returned home from the war and lived a full and rewarding life.  He worked quietly in a public school system and never spoke about his war experiences in any great detail until I was well into adulthood.  I am alive today to muse about this subject because he survived.  James Johnston never had the opportunity to sit on the stoop with a a beer and share closely-guarded feelings about the war with a son.        

This is why Memorial Day is bit more personal for me.        

When it came time for a permanent burial, the families of the dead were asked if they wanted their loved ones repatriated for permanent burial in the U.S. or interred overseas.  Lieutenant Colonel Johnston's remains lie here with approximately 461 graves belonging to 9th Infantry Division G.I.s.           

On this holiday it is useful to remember and honor the lives that brave men and women sacrificed.

Both of those lives.   

 

 

 *Eight Stars to Victory - Mittelman, The Battery Press

 

On This Day

Most of you readers likely know that my father was an infantryman during WWII. 

Howard landed at Utah Beach as an infantry replacement shortly on the heels of the initial invasion. He was assigned to M Company, 47^th Infantry Regiment, Ninth Division. He served in a weapons platoon and including mortar his MOS was - 605 - heavy machine gunner.  

On one of several trips to France Jill and I spent some time touring the Normandy battlefield in a rental car. The objective was to retrace the movements of the 47^th during the months of June and July 1944. We were - in our own fashion - attempting to walk in the footsteps of my father in those initial days and weeks following the invasion. 

Sunken Road Flanked by Hedgerows Today

On this day – July 25, 1944 – an operation was launched to break-out of the mud and slogging misery of Normandy’s hedgerow country. Allied troops had been bottled-up in the Norman countryside since the invasion of June 6.  Plans called for a massive aerial bombardment of a narrow sector west of the battered town of Saint-Lô.  To facilitate a breakout - thousands of U.S. aircraft were to bomb a narrow section of the front.  This would be the largest, concentrated bombing attempt in history.  

Sunken Road Flanked by Hedgerows - 47th Inf.  
Photo - US Army

Ninth Division troops - including my dad’s unit - had retreated from their forward positions to a bomb-safety line.  Shortly before 10 AM the bombardment commenced.  Middle-weight fighter bombers were followed by heavy bombers - carpet bombing an area 6000 yards wide along the Saint-Lô–Periers road.  

^{On the Saint-Lô–Periers road - east is the town of Saint-Lô}

Notably, General Bradley had specifically requested that the bombers approach the target from the east - out of the sun - and parallel to the road in order to minimize the risk of friendly losses. Most of the aircraft instead came in from the north, perpendicular to the front line. 

Matters quickly went awry.  

^{On the Saint-Lô–Periers road facing west - follow the D29 to the German cemetery}

Smoke and dust from the bombing began to drift back towards the bomb-safety line obscuring marker panels.  Flying crews released their clusters right into the smoke, missing their mark and falling short among friendly troops.    

Location of the Breakout

The 47th Infantry of the 9th and the 120th Infantry of the 30th Division suffered more than six hundred casualties from friendly fire.  All but two individuals of Howard's 3rd battalion command group were killed.  The largest aerial bombardment in history also become one of the largest incidents of fratricide in US Army history. 

From my late father’s memoirs is his attestation of the events on the ground during the immediate days of the break-out.  In his own words there is this.....

Photo - US Army

July 25th our bombers and fighters, over 3000 aircraft, hit the area about Saint-Lô.  This is still clearly imprinted in my mind.  Even though we were pulled back a good distance from the front - shock waves caused by the exploding bombs denuded many trees and bushes of their foliage.  Our trousers and jackets flapped as if we were caught in a hurricane.  

We lost several of our comrades because ground panels we displayed to indicate our positions became obscured by the dust.  It was here that Art Draeving was killed.  Art and I trained together at Camp Butner.  We were in the same platoon.  Art was a farm boy from central Wisconsin.  

Photo - US Army

After the bombardment we moved out only to be greeted by the now-familiar sound of burp guns. After advancing perhaps a quarter of a mile we came upon a deserted German aid station.  Much to our surprise we found six or seven dead German soldiers.  They obviously had been treated for their wounds.  One in particular was encased in a partial cast.  Apparently they died from their wounds and were left behind because of a hasty withdrawal and or lack of transport. 

^{Church in Lozon - liberated by the 47th's 3rd Battalion by nightfall on the 25th of July, 1944}

Later we went into reserve.  This comes to mind for several reasons.  First, we were bivouacked just ahead of our artillery.  Second, a bloated, foul-smelling, dead cow graced our area.  I believe the entire company got together and buried the carcass in record time.  Also, it seems that during this brief respite the Mess Sergeant slaughtered a cow.  This was to be our first warm meal in some time. 

Contented Norman Cows

A day or two later we were returned to action.  We made a forced march at night.  We became so dog tired that some of our group fell asleep while marching.  A tumble in the roadside ditch did wonders in providing a second wind.  Later that night, as we were crossing an open field, we got caught by the light of a parachute flare.  We froze and waited for the worse.  After a few seconds (that seemed like an eternity) we dashed for cover. 

 47th Inf. Heavy Machine Gunner - Normandy  
 Photo - US Army

Against fierce resistance the 3rd Battalion led the 47th's attack supported by artillery and fire from the 1st and 2nd Battalions.