WEBVTT

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Your task will not be an easy one .

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Your enemy is well trained , well

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equipped and battle hardened . He will

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fight

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savagely .

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The 16th Infantry

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Regiment was the assault regiment on

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Omaha beach and what that means is

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there the first there ? The very first

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ones . Almost everything that could go

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wrong with a military operation went

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wrong with the D Day operation . It was

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postponed today because of bad weather .

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The weather was iffy , but they sent

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him in anyway . It was a terrible

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decision that General Eisenhower had to

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make . The soldiers were In their

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landing craft , Charles is in his

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landing craft , very cramped space .

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About 34 men that are aboard this l . c .

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v . p . and they went up onto the beach .

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Things on the soil of western europe .

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Another of the great decisive battles

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of world history has been joined the

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cox one that was driving the boat . I

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have to drop the ramp . You have to

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leave because I'm marooned on an

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underwater obstacle . When the ramp

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went down , of course the men that was

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standing in front . Many of them were

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killed immediately by machine gun fire

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alarms or more of fire and those

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that made it into the water

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some of them were too heavily loaded

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with equipment and many of them sank

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immediately into the water because I

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landed up to my chest and the men that

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were loaded with this ammunition , they

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just sank . Make no help for them . You

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could not help them . Mhm . The

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german defenses had not been suppressed

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as was planned . One of the things that

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many people who visit here don't

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understand is that german defenses did

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not point out to sea , the Germans knew

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they couldn't destroy the allied fleet ,

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all of the defenses , all of the guns

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created a cross fire across the beach

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so that our soldiers coming off the

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landing craft would have to go through

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multiple belts of direct fire . Of

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course there's mortar fire , artillery

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fire , there's no cover and concealment .

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They landed at low tide so they have

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about a quarter mile of wet title flat

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that they've got to get across carrying

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all their gear . I ran up across the

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dry beach to the shoulder of the area

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and there I found a spot where I could

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operate in Semitic and treat the

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wounded . I happened to glance back to

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the sea and I saw that there were many

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wounded men laying on the beach . The

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tide was coming in very fast and if

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nobody came to their help , they were

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doomed to drown . So I returned to

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the water and tried to help these men

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by rolling them over on their backs ,

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grabbing them under their armpits and

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pulling them up to the safety of the

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water level that I knew would be safe

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from drowning . Charles was pinned down .

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For 6-8 hours . He was lying on his

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stomach and crawling through wet sand

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trying to get to wounded soldiers and

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saved them . He exhausted his medical

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supplies . Almost immediately continued

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to do that until he was literally

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exhausted and just could not move

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anymore . After horrific casualties ,

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the 16th Infantry Regiment , aided and

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abetted by many other units , was able

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to take their objectives on Omaha beach

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and clear away for the follow on forces

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that were gonna land there .