The mother ship that I was on for the invasion of Normandy
was the Prince Charles. We climbed down scramble nets from the Prince Charles
into the landing craft and we made our way towards the beach. It was very rough and lots
of men got sick. We were all standing up in the landing craft as we made our way into the
beach area. At the time, I was in B Company of the 2nd Ranger Battalion
and was in charge of a mortar crew. I was staff sergeant at the time.
We were about 200 feet from the beach when a shell blew off the front our the landing
craft destroying the ramp. My two best buddies were right in front of me and they were
both killed. When we went over the side of the landing craft (to avoid machine gun fire)
the water was about 12 feet deep. After the shell hit, it was pretty much everyone for
themselves.
I was holding a 45 pistol and carrying a bazooka with 8
shells; it was so heavy that I just went right under the water so I had to let everything
go except the shells. Eventually when I got to the beach I picked up a German rifle that I
used.
When we all got together on the beach things were getting
kind of bad. Fortunately, the Colonel (Max Scheinder) 'called
the Battleship Texas for support fire and it made a direct hit on the pillbox that
the Germans were in. We also had two destroyers and they took turns all day long firing at
targets. They saved us; they were terrific. s
When we were on the beach there were two other Rangers and myself running and a German
machine gun was firing at us. We hid behind an anti-tank obstacle. The three of us ducked
behind it. We then headed towards the front again, towards the street. It was terrible,
there were bodies all over the place. They wiped out almost the entire 116th
Infantry Regiment; they just murdered them. They were floating all over the place. There
was blood in the water – it was just dark.
Eventually, we got up to the road or highway, whatever you
want to call it and entered the town of Vierville.
Source:
Interview by Pat O'Donnell with Ray Alm 7/98
Sadly, Ray passed away this summer. He will be missed by all.
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