you say here i was the last off last one off the ship when they dumped us out too far we marched off the ramp into the water and all walked in a line i made my way into the icy water that reached up to my chin holding my rifle over my head but i wasn’t thinking about the water’s temperature i just wanted to get through it alive the section of shore i landed on was known as easy red we were supposed to be able to walk through the surf and find bomb holes which would be shelters for us the air corps totally missed omaha beach so there was no protection for us those beaches were all mined i would find out later in life that there were millions of mines on that beach if you stepped on one of those babies it was a quick trip to heaven i was more afraid of stepping on a mine than being shot at i ran toward the cliffs making sure to step in the same footprints as the man in front of me made what in the hell am i doing here the thought pounded in my head as i dodged bullets determined to stay focused on reaching the safety of the cliffs how did a simple farm boy from minnesota land on omaha beach on d-day machine guns were firing in all directions with bodies everywhere those mg 42 machine guns shot 1200 to 1500 rounds per minute i ran and dodged finally making my way to a sand berm the bullets were blasting off the berm as i ducked into it i wasn’t going to get out of that hole no matter what i smoked at that time and i had my cigarettes in this plastic bag so they wouldn’t get wet unfortunately i didn’t have a match i remember then that i started shaking before that moment i had felt no fear i turned to my left and left and saw a soldier lying down with his back toward me i called out hey buddy do you have a match then i noticed there was no head underneath the helmet that got me moving jake move i told myself i got up and dashed for the bottom of the cliff wall about 200 yards away i remember saying to myself jake what the hell are you doing here you’re running for your life so nobody can shoot you but everybody can shoot at you i only weighed 120 pounds soaking wet so that was an advantage since it’s hard to shoot at a toothpick after what seemed like an eternity i made it to the cliff wall where i was safe from what i’ve read over 2500 died at omaha beach that day
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