By Howard A. Ellis
Really, this isn’t a story so much as a brief meeting I experienced today between myself and an Army veteran of the D-Day invasion of Normandy, France on June 6, 1944.
I was in the armed forces from 1942 until retiring in 1965, and was a 19-year-old USAAF staff sergeant assigned to the 877th Signal Service Co., 16th Air Depot Group when D-Day erupted.
Our outfit was stationed near Swindon, England, where I was on duty as the forces blasted their ways through the beachheads at Omaha and Utah.
My outfit actually didn’t get to France until July 14, 1944, D-38, when it was so safe we more or less strolled ashore from the S.S. Llangley, a British troop carrier which unloaded us on to landing craft for the uneventful few yards we had to go to touch toes on Omaha.
As I stood on the beach I couldn’t help marveling that only a few historic weeks earlier the worlds Greatest Armada brought liberation forces to the continent of Europe and a terrible cost of blood and destruction. And here I was, dufflebag and rifle - well, Carbine - on my back and shoulders, actually walking in the proverbial footsteps of real heroes who’d gone before.
It’s so safe now, I told myself, I wish I could personally thank those guys who came in here and won the day…
But life goes on and the thought escaped me as I continued my communications duties through Northern France and on to Munchengladbach, Germany, where I was when World War II ended on May 8. After the war I erratically evolved into a USAF master sergeant retiring on Feb. 1, 1965.
Life led me to many adventures including career, marriage and family and here I am in retirement in Southern California...having never even met one single ‘I hit the beach at Omaha’ veteran.
But I live near March Air Reserve Base at Riverside, California, and today I drove there to shop at the base exchange. As I entered the exchange I spotted a white-haired grisly bearded old coot sitting on a bench waiting for his wife to finish shopping. He was wearing one of those split American Legion-type caps and on it were engraved the legends, World War II Veteran, Omaha Beach Landing, Battle of the Bulge and ex-POW. It was a helluva lot of writing on one of those small (CENSORED) caps but it was clear to me, it reminded me I owned someone a thank you...and he was it.
I just walked over to him and asked, Normandy, huh? and he grinned and said Yep. I reached out my hand for a hearty shake and told him, I came in on D-38, felt like a tourist thanks to you guys fighting it through and clearing the beach...he lit up with the darndest smile and said, Thank you, and we hugged and I straightened up and just walked away, overwhelmed was I with emotion.
It was just a brief instant but for that moment I was almost back on the beach like I had found him there and got to thank him then, not 60 years later.
Life is good, isn’t it?
HOWARD A. ELLIS, MSGT.,
USARMY/USAIR FORCE - 1942-1965
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Editors Note:
Since some veterans will share war stories with other veterans and tell them things they will not share with their own family members, we need local veterans from every state in the U.S.A. to help us obtain these stories for future generations.
If you are a veteran, please encourage your fellow vets to record or document their memories. Their great-grandchildren and future descendants deserve to know what type of sacrifices their ancestors made, in order to keep this country a free nation.
We would love to have and preserve the stories and photographs from every vet that served in the military since WWII, but regardless of whether we get copies of the stories or not, the most important aspect is that each veteran record their memories and make sure they are available for future generations.
Published in U S Legacies Magazine May 2005
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