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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6, 2018
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
Founded in 1873
JIM VAN NOSTRAND
Editor
JEREMY FELDMAN
Circulation Manager
DEBRA BLOOM
Business Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN
Production Manager
CARL EARL
Systems Manager
EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK
Associated Press
A Coast Guard landing barge, tightly packed with helmeted soldiers, approaches the shore at Normandy, France, during initial Allied landing operations, June 6, 1944.
Honoring D-Day, 40 years later
O
n June 7, 1984, I stood atop a low
stone wall on a bluff overlooking
the Normandy coast at Colleville-
sur-Mer, France.
Behind me waited several dozen sol-
diers of Echo Company, 1st Battalion, 16th
Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division
(Big Red One). They had served the day
before as President Reagan’s honor guard
for international ceremo-
nies commemorating the
anniversary of the D-Day
landings.
In front of me lay
Omaha Beach at low tide,
a vast expanse of sand
where 40 years before,
JIM VAN
NOSTRAND the regiment had stormed
ashore in the first wave of
Operation Overlord.
I was a second lieutenant in Charlie
Company, chosen to accompany the honor
guard to Normandy because I was also the
unofficial battalion historian. The men were
worn out from several days of drilling and
marching on parade. The battalion com-
mander asked me to take them on a private
tour of the American cemetery at Omaha
Beach before heading back to our post near
Stuttgart, Germany.
The men were all looking up at me on
the wall, waiting. I was at a loss for words.
Finally I pointed at the ocean and swung
my arm in a wide arc.
“Try to imagine yourself as a German
soldier that morning, looking out there and
seeing the largest invasion fleet in the his-
tory of the world — almost 7,000 ships,” I
said. “And many of them were headed this
way.”
Then, reaching into my pocket, I pulled
a copy of the Presidential Unit Citation the
regiment had earned that day, and began to
read it aloud.
AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler
President Ronald Reagan, center, and French President Francois Mitterrand, left,
with their wives Nancy Reagan (waving) and Danielle Mitterrand (right behind Rea-
gan) review French (left) and American honor guards June 6, 1984.
Indescribable carnage
The landing was utter chaos. The land-
ing craft began to take artillery, mortar and
machine gun fire 300 yards offshore.
They landed far from their assigned
sectors, and scores of men were killed or
wounded as the landing craft dropped their
ramps. Others were hit as they slogged
through the surf or tried to run across the
sand.
I had been researching the battle for
several days. I was able to point to approx-
imately where each company landed, and
describe the number of casualties each
suffered. All of us tried to envision, without
much success, how much courage it must
have taken to cross that beach.
American soldiers among the first to reach the French beach struggle
through the water to the shore through a maze of beach obstacles.
Associated Press
The breakout came when Echo
Company men managed to cross a mine-
field and breach the enemy wire, allowing
the regiment to fight its way up the bluff.
The regimental commander, Col.
George Taylor, famously exhorted his
soldiers through the gap, yelling “The only
men who remain on this beach are the dead
and those who are about to die! Let’s get
moving!”
The moment has been immortalized in
many movies, most notably “The Longest
Day.”
Awe-inspiring experience
My little speech lasted only about 10
minutes. The men scattered afterwards
to explore the beach and the cemetery,
which contains the graves of 9,385 soldiers
killed in the D-Day landings and ensuing
operations.
The Normandy American Cemetery and
Memorial covers 172 acres and is techni-
cally American soil, granted in perpetuity
to the United States by the French govern-
ment as a small thank you for the liberation
of their nation.
It is an imposing and awe-inspiring
experience. Many of the crosses bear the
inscription “Here rests in honored glory a
comrade in arms, known but to God.”
Two days before on June 5, while
reconnoitering the memorial grounds in
uniform in advance of President Reagan’s
visit, I found myself suddenly ambushed
by a phalanx of television cameras.
One reporter was particularly aggres-
sive, asking me the difference between
fighting in a popular war, such as World
War II, and an unpopular war, such as
Vietnam.
I considered my response carefully,
fearing the end of my nascent military
career if I screwed this up.
“The American soldier of today is no
different than soldiers of any other war,
including World War II and Vietnam,” I
said.
“They will do what it takes to survive
on the battlefield. The tactics you use when
you’re being shot at haven’t changed much
in 40 years.”
The battalion commander and sergeant
major quickly sought me out after the tele-
vision cameras departed, wondering what
in the world their foolish young lieutenant
was talking to the media about.
“That was a very good answer,” the
sergeant major said, with a knowing nod.
Jim Van Nostrand is editor of The Daily
Astorian.