June 6, 1944, Omaha Beach, (Normandy, France)
We were headed onto Omaha Beach and I was glad. After all the
fighting in Africa and Sicily, I just wanted to get this war over with.
It was daylight on the 6th. I went up on deck and found my brother Bill
there. We talked about our chances and what our parents would think.
At 6 AM the signal came to go to station. My brother and I promised
whoever survived would take care of the other's family. And we shook
hands and went our separate ways.
I climbed down the nets and got into the Higgins boat; that was my unit.
On the way in we could hear the battleships firing and see the big shells
landing ahead of us. Guys were getting sick and vomiting from the
choppy waters and the diesel fumes.
As we got in closer, the Germans had a birds-eye view of us coming in.
We picked up machine guns firing; bullets clanged against the metal
ramps of the boat like hell.
Then, the big 8.8s on the hill opened up. Every time a shell whistled
overhead, all you could hear was the sound of a banshee screaming.
Boats were burning all around us. I saw men on fire; even their shoes
were on fire.
Dead and wounded were floating in the water. We had orders not to stop
and pick anyone up. I told my men when the ramp dropped, hit the water
hard and keep as low as you can. We sank up over our heads.
That was the last time I saw most of my men. Thirty-one men jumped
off that boat. Just seven of them made it to the beach. The only cover
was a block of concrete the Germans failed to clear.
That's where I set up a collection point for the casualties. Medics were
trained not to dig in. We were there to see the troops and for them to
see us. I detailed Corporal Raymond Lepeur to hunker down and treat
the men while I brought in the injured. Ray and I had been together
since 39; I knew I could count on him.
It was total confusion. Shells exploding. Boats blowing up. People
yelling cause they couldn't hear anything. Machine gun bullets hitting
the water all around you and the roar of the boats coming in.
It's like you're all alone in a world of a million people because you're
concentrating on what you have to do.
I hadn't gone far when I felt the bullet go through my right arm. I just
kept goin’. I was thinkin’ of only one thing: getting to the men who
needed me.
There was a soldier layin’ right on the edge of the water. One arm was
almost shot off. Every time a wave came, that arm would be pulled back
out to sea and he'd try to reach for it.
The first thing you're supposed to do is keep a wounded man from goin’
into shock. But he was too far gone; nothing I could do for him. He died
in my arms.
I was on my way to treat another soldier when a piece of shrapnel the
size of my hand tore a hole in my left thigh. I put a tourniquet on it, gave
myself a shot of morphine and went back to work. You did the job you
were trained to do; if you didn't, you died.
I could feel my right arm goin’ numb from the first bullet. Saw a guy
struggling in chest deep water; grabbed him with my good arm just as
the Higgins boat rolled in and dropped its ramp. The ramp hit me right
in the back, crushed two vertebrae and pushed us both to the bottom.
That's when I started talkin’ to the one guy I knew could help. I said,
God, I've asked you many times but just give me another chance. Let
me save one more person. And, for some reason, that boat raised its
ramp and backed out
Somehow, I managed to drag his body to safety. I told Corporal Lepeur
he'd have to take my place. He stood up and then he just collapsed
against my shoulder. His helmet fell off and I saw the hole right in the
center. It all went black after that.
The next thing I knew I was on a boat goin’ back to England. The Navy
doctor looked at my dog tags and said, We have another Lambert here.
My brother Bill's stretcher was put right next to mine on the dock at
Weymouth. He'd been on the beach with G Company. We went to the
hospital in the same ambulance
When I woke up he was on a cot next to mine. He looked over and said,
What&are you doin’ here? Same thing you are I told him. And he said,
Oh God, what's Mother goin’ think. We both made it out okay. Bill
lived to be 92.
People who have never been in a war should understand what soldiers
give up. The guys we left on Omaha Beach never had a chance to live
the lives they dreamed of. A day hasn't gone by when I haven't prayed
for the men we lost and their families.
I still wake up at night sometimes thinkin’ about the guys. Every man
that walked into those machine guns and that artillery fire on Omaha
Beach that day - Every Man - was a hero. What kind of person would I
be if I didn't tell their stories.
Backstory
Omaha Beach was the code name for the Allied assault into German
occupied territory in France. It was the largest undertaking during
WWII. Taking Omaha was to be the responsibility of the United States
Army troops, with sea support, mine sweeping, and a naval
bombardment force provided primarily by the United States Navy and
Coast Guard with contributions from the British, Canadian, and Free
French Navies. 1
The combined strength of those men involved in the Assault included
over
51,000 infantry, 2 battleships, 3 cruisers, 13 destroyers, and 1,000+
assorted other vessels. Casualties and losses numbered between 2,000 -
6,200 or more.
While these may seem merely like statistics, they represent the Allied
forces unwavering effort to establish a stronghold on Omaha Beach,
meeting up with the British who were landing to the East; it was
necessary to defeat the Germans; invasion in France and get materials,
artillery, and manpower to infantry soldiers.
As in many battles, very little went as planned. According to reports,
there were difficulties in navigation and German defenses were
unexpectedly strong, inflicting heavy casualties on American forces. By
the end of the day, two small isolated footholds had been won, which
were subsequently exploited against weaker defenses further inland,
achieving the original D-Day objectives over the following days.
Once the beachhead had been secured, Omaha became the location of
one of the two Mulberry harbors, prefabricated artificial harbors towed
in pieces across the English Channel and assembled just offshore.
Construction of Mulberry at Omaha began the day after D-Day with the
scuttling of ships to form a breakwater. By D+10, the harbor became
operational when the first pier was completed; docking and unloading 78
vehicles in 38 minutes.
Three days later the worst storm to hit Normandy in 40 years began to
blow, raging for three days and not abating until the night of June 22.
The harbor was so badly damaged that the decision was taken not to
repair it; supplies subsequently landed directly on the beach until fixed
port facilities were completed. 2
Over the 100 days following D-Day more than 1,000,000 tons of
supplies, 100,000 vehicles and 600,000 men were landed, and 93,000
casualties were evacuated, via Omaha. 3
Present Day
The men who fought, died, and lived during that time were members of
The Greatest Generation. This generation is generally defined as people
born between 1901 and 1927. 4
They were shaped during the deprivations of The Great Depression and
then went on to fight in World War II as well as those whose
productivity within the homefront during WWII made a decisive
material contribution to the war effort. This generation is also part of the
histories of Britain, France, and Germany, among others.
Focusing on the United States, individuals born during this time
experienced economic prosperity with distinctive cultural
transformations. As Tom Brokaw says in his book, The Greatest
Generation, It is, I believe, the greatest generation any society has ever
produced.He argues that these men and women fought not for
fame and recognition but because it was the right thing to do. 5
Sgt. Lambert's story is an example of someone described by Tom
Brokaw. In closing, I would say Sgt. Lambert's story is one of the lucky
ones. It is absolutely incredible that anyone could survive that carnage.
Think of having to run forward, several football fields in distance, across
flat, open sand, subject to grazing and plunging automatic and small
arms, weapons fire, artillery and mortars, with absolutely no cover.
And then, having to scale or otherwise find your way and TAKE
concrete bunkers which towered approximately 15 stories above the
beach! Mind boggling! Cannot imagine how they did it.
God bless them all.
Author Bio
Concetta Pipia, JD, is the founder of the Aspiring Writers’ Society and the
AWS e-zine where she is co-editor of same. Ms. Pipia has been published
in both prose and poetry anthologies, in an e-online literary publication,
Different Truths, and has received several Certificates of Participation from
The Fertile Brains (an international group of poets and writers). She is
published in Brahmand, Vol. 2, an e-magazine for creative writing, and in
The Pine Cone Review’s special Issue – SURVIVAL 2022. She is an alumna
of Parsons School of Design, Touro University School of Law and
University of Phoenix (remote).
Footnotes
1 Gal Perl Finkel, 75 years from that long day in Normandy – we still
have something to learn, The Jerusalem Post, June 12, 2019.
2 A Harbor Built from Scratch Archived from the original on 2007-12-
03. Retrieved 2007-09-10.
3 Bridge to the Past—Engineers in World War II. US Army Corps of
Engineers. Archived from the original on August 23, 2007. Retrieved
2007-09-11.
4 Is It Time toPass the Torch? The Generational Dilemma of the 2020
Democratic Primary 2019-07-30. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
5 Brokaw, Tom (1998). The greatest generation - Tom Brokaw - Google
Boeken. ISBN 9780375502026. Retrieved December 16, 2013.