Had and old neighbor in Florida, Louie, that was part of the landing. He said everybody on that landing craft were "gung-ho but scared shitless" which I can understand. Told me about 15 seconds into hitting the sand he was running up the beach and a bullet tore through his pants between his legs. Said he was scared to look, then saw where the hole was and "I realized I was about 1" from being a queen the rest of my life." His wife Mary, who was a real trip herself, used to joke about it. She said if that German had been a better shot it would have saved her a lot of pain at childbirth.
Louie always wanted to live to 100, but died just a few days before that birthday. Mary was 95 at the time & followed him just a couple years later. I always had to laugh at Louie, he wouldn't talk about his time in either France or Italy if Mary was nearby. Kinda makes you wonder just what kind of action he did see in those places.
