Page of My Life

I feel like we had been on the boat for days. Everyone around me was throwing up and the smell of the sea was terrible. All I could hear was waves hitting the boat and the tears of soldiers. I was more frightened than I had ever been and didn’t know what to expect. I was told not to anticipate any trouble on the beach, but I could not trust anyone at the time. My name is First Class Private Jacy Baron and I am a member of Company F, 116th Infantry 29th Division. It was June 6th, 1942 and my Company was on the way to Omaha Beach, France.

I was finally able to see the shore through all of the fog on that wet gray day. Along the shoreline, shingles in the water prevent boats and vehicles to move well. Men were just waiting to open fire in German Pillboxes that were set up on top of cliffs. The cliffs very steep slopes made it difficult to move up. My heart beat faster and faster as we moved closer to the island. My boat was about five thousand yards away from the beach so I decided to stick my head up and take a better look at the island. Someone screamed to me and said. "Get your head down! You'll get killed!" and I replied "I'm dying anyway!" We were ahead of everyone else and unfortunately there were not any bomb craters for cover. We were headed right for German machine gun fire.

We landed in three or four feet of water, and the ramp failed to go down. By the time our lieutenant jumped off the side, the ramp opened. This was the most horrific sight I had ever seen. Everywhere men were screaming. Blood was flying in the air as soldiers were shot at. I saw yellow lights coming from the rapid nonstop firing from the German guns. Smoke filled the