THE LANDING
The landing was supposed to be easy -- so easy that John Talton was singing.
June 4, 1994

EVERYONE WAS SCARED
"I heard guys say they weren't scared, but I say everybody was at least a little bit scared."
June 4, 1994

"LIKE A SHOOTING GALLERY"
As the dawn brightened into morning, the beach stood untouched. The shore was as strong and as fortified as before; for the coming waves of men and machinery there wouldn't be any of the 50-yard gaps that had been promised.
June 4, 1994

"WE'LL ALL BE KILLED"
He could see glowing tracer bullets, shells going off and what appeared to be A flame thrower. "The beach was lit up like a little town. I knew something terrible was happening on that beach."
June 4, 1994

"THE GATES OF HELL"
Sergeant Murphy Scott remembered a radio broadcast back in England when Axis Sal a German propagandist who played popular music and tried to demoralize the troops, warned that "the gates of Hell" would open when the Allied armies landed in France.
June 4, 1994

"CLICK THAT CLICKER"
He clutched his clicker and remembered what his lieutenant said before they jumped. "When we get down, click that damn clicker. We've got to get together."
June 4, 1994

HANGING ON
On June 5, the day before the invasion, they pulled out. The sea was rough and the waves crashed across the deck all day, as the invading armada started to assemble off the English coast.
June 4, 1994

"NOBODY SLEPT THAT NIGHT"
The night of June 5, as the ship pulled out of the harbor, Stevens lay in his bunk trying to sleep and wondering if he would survive. "Nobody slept that night, nobody."
June 4, 1994

"THE BEST MOVE WE MADE"
They watched the German soldier run to an abandoned boat and dive under its dropped ramp, and they scrambled close behind. "The best move we ever made."
June 4, 1994

"SHOOTING AT SHADOWS"
Closer in, they became more jumpy, shooting at shadows. "You were just shooting more or less at sounds or what you thought was there." The Germans started firing back. Comer heard the bullets whiz past him.
June 4, 1994

"THE COLOR OF BLOOD"
"You could see the color of blood just mixing in the water."
June 4, 1994

"THE FOXHOLE SHAKES"
Talton started shaking violently and asked a medic for help. The medic told him he had the foxhole shakes. He said: "Buddy, there ain't no pill for that." After awhile, the shakes stopped.
June 4, 1994