European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 6, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Robert sales continued from Page 7 groggy but luckily a log was floating by. I grabbed it and used it As a shield until i reached the  once there he crawled a Inch by Inch a using the dead and wounded As Shields until i reached a sea Wall where some other men were taking  one of them he said a had an Eye hanging out on his face a i bandaged him up As Best i  chaos reigned supreme. A your company was shot  badly that there was no organization and we did t know what the other sectors were doing. We Felt helpless and alone a sales said. Slaughter said a some men cried unashamedly others wet their pants. Fear was in everyone. But somehow some of us kept going. I guess that a where the training kicked  tech. Sgt. Felix Branham of Silver Spring md., described the Beach in a personal. Journal As a pure hell a there a just no words to describe it.�?�. A a much of the chaos and confusion was due to fear of drowning and incredibly loud explosions a then of course the bullets a he said. A we were sitting ducks with no Way to defend ourselves. My Rifle was jammed with Sand but i  see anything to shoot at anyway. There was plenty of smoke but no visible  Branham said that first Day was focused on survival. It Wasny to until the next morning that he and the others realized what had happened. A it was shocking to see the hundreds of men washing in the surf a men i grew up with double dated with puffed off the same cigarette drank out of the same bottle with a lying there dead. Stark faces with eyes and Mouths wide  s laughter said a you  walk without stepping of a  and sales believes it was a Good thing that no one knew what they would face in the weeks to come As the division fought Inland through Pointe do hoc Wierville Signy sur Mer and  within six weeks the division would have a nearly 100 percent casualty rate with the combat deaths diseases self inflicted wounds and suicides. A in one night alone five men shot themselves a Slaughter said. A and in my opinion they Are As much a combat casualty As anyone else.�?�. The Beach was Only a Start. A it s a Good thing that we did no to know that was just the beginning a he said. Remembering a first love by Nancy l. To Neh . Bureau Weymouth England a Dawn Gould will never forget finding the first love of her life when . Troops came to town or losing him when he left for Normandy. A a it Sas fresh in my mind As if it were yesterday a said Gould 67, a lifelong resident of Weymouth. Gould then 16, was attending a dance in a local ballroom frequented by american soldiers. Military police always attended the dances to keep an Eye on the troops. On this night one of the temporary maps corp. Steward Koger of the 32nd Field arty 1st div also had his eyes on Gould. Gould agreed to Date Koger the next night. It was the first Date she had Ever had. The couple became engaged May 8 the following year. In june Koger left for Normandy. Gould Learned that Koger died somewhere in France when her letters were returned stamped  she said she wrote to his Sisters in Louisiana for a Short time. They eventually advised her to forget about Koger and get on with her life. A memorial on the Weymouth Esplanade was dedicated to us. Forces in 1947, and on every a Day anniversary since then Gould has placed Flowers at the Stone Structure in memory of Koger. Although Gould eventually married a someone else a it s something you done to forget a she said. Gould also Hasni to forgotten the Many americans who came to her mothers Home for dinners under a program organized by local clergymen to make americans feel at Home. A there were so Many of them americans in town that the cafes and cinemas literally  hold them a Gould said. Most dinner guests were amazed at the austerity of British food rations Gould said. One adults weekly ration included 8 ounces of sugar 2vi ounces of Tea 4 ounces of butter 2 ounces of Margarine 2vi pints of milk 2 ounces of cheese 3 ounces of Beans 4 ounces of Bacon 3 ounces of sweets and very minimal amounts of fresh and canned meat. Each person also was fites8.s Noncy Tomar Dawn Gould in 1944 and today. Allotted 31 eggs a year. A they were very interested in our War a Gould said. But when it came to talking about their own War experiences most americans were silent unless asked direct questions she said. Gould also befriended War casualties at the . Hospitals in Blandford where she visited regularly As a member of the american social club run by the red Cross. A we were warned by doctors that it might be difficult. Some of the tank boys were badly burned a Gould said. A we never knew if it would be someone we knew or a total  Gould has been corresponding with some of these old friends since the War. She recently renewed Contact with one when she found the High school class ring he had Given her. A a a a a a \ a i thought he might like the ring Back a Gould said. A the was  in return he sent Gould a similar looking ring with a Gold band and red Stone to replace it. A a that show the threads keep coming Back a Gould said. A they americans were our boys and we loved  Channel Mission Ortland England a Herbert Gordon male knew when he set sail from Portland Harbor on june 5 with 70 members of the . 1st inf div and a dozen 80-ton general Grant tanks that he was embarking on a historic Mission male 77, of Portland was a  with the British Royal Navy q57 so assigned to the Allied american forces As a crewman on list 628 tank Landing Craft he was bound for Omaha Beach. Male made 23 round trips to Omaha and Utah beaches Between june and november 1944 transporting . Reinforcements. His Job included dropping the Anchor unc Haining the tanks and lowering the door for tanks to disembark. Cd wire went right on Shore to unload the tanks a male said. A there were shells Landing around us on a Day a a male said he was too Busy to watch what was happening on Omaha that Day but he recalled that a there was such a mass of  the Battle actually started on the voyage Over male said. In a Book about his shipboard adventures being in All respects ready for sea male wrote that a bad storm on a Day sent giant Waves crashing continually Over the top of the Landing Craft. A your american friends weren to very Happy about this. They were Green around the Gills a male said. Otherwise he said a i think the first several trips we took in really crack american  among the a Day flotilla were some a slab sided Concrete monsters the purpose of which was a mystery until they reached Normandy. A the immensity of the event became evident As the Day wore on when entire harbours began to take shape a those Leviathan floating Concrete blocks that none of us had been Able to guess the reason for. We had brought our own harbours with us a male wrote. The artificial harbours mulberries were designed to receive 12,000 tons of cargo and 2,500 vehicles a Day according to literature from the a Day museum in Portsmouth. Altogether 213 Mulberry sections were built using More than 1 million tons of reinforced Concrete and 70,000 tons of steel and towed across the Channel. Meanwhile men and equipment began storming the Beach at about 6 30 . Males list pulled up to the Shoreline at about 9 . A it took about 15 minutes to unload and then you had to leave the Beach As fast As you could to make room for other ships a male said. A we were glad we did no to have to go ashore with them infantry troops a Nancy Torner a amps Nancy Tomar Herbert male a stars and stripes commemorative edition june 6, 1994