Operation Neptune

A soldier from D-Day tells his story of when he assisted in the invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944, as well as what happened to his squad.

June 6, 1944. I'll never forget that day. It was a long day, and a short one for my squad. We were headed for Omaha Beach. We were deployed on our landing craft and the squad commander was telling us what to do. Some of the men were seasick, and were puking their guts up. I sat and listened while I thought of my family back home, how much I missed them. Then we got prepared for the door to open on the landing craft. Corporal Jackson, who I've known since training was standing next to me and he glanced at me and said "Get ready to walk into hell."
The door opened and we were immediately under heavy machine gun fire and within seconds 5 men were shot dead right in front of me. Me and Jackson jumped off the side of the boat with the rest of the squad. I left my rucksack in the water before the weight pulls me into the abyss below me. I swam to shore quickly and looked around for a rifle. I see my commanding officer giving signals to the other soldiers. Then I see him being shot by a machine gun and then obliterated by a grenade. Another grenade flies towards me, and I vaulted away from the grenade, but the blast radius disrupted my hearing.
I looked around and I couldn't hear anything at all. I glanced behind me and I see a squad landing with a flamethrower. The door opened, and seconds later the boat full of young soldiers became a glowing ball of fire as soon as a bullet hit the fuel tank of the flamethrower. I looked ahead of me and Jackson was screaming at me, but I could not hear what he was saying to me. Then my hearing came back and Jackson screamed "Come on, Private before you get shot!" I ran with him across the beach and around me mortars were hitting the beach and I saw limbs fly into the air from various directions. I picked up a rifle and asked him "What do we do now?!" and he replied "We have to blow a hole through the barbed wire!" I saw a group from the 2nd Ranger Battalion headed our way and they helped us break through the German defenses.  
I heard a countdown from three to one and then all the machine gun fire was overpowered by the sound of the explosion and we quickly ran through enemy defenses. I glanced behind me and I saw a soldier lying in the sand holding his stomach while his intestines were hanging over the sand. Then I saw Jackson telling the other men to move forward. Then, I heard a mortar being fired, and within seconds, my friend from training became a cloud of blood and the only thing left of him was his arm, which was severely burned. I just watched in shock as my friend who was standing there a second ago was gone. 
I wanted to run to him but the beach was under heavy fire and I didn't want to risk it. I was suddenly given this feeling of courage and a lust for revenge for the loss of my friend, and I grabbed a few grenades and an SMG and I shot every single German that stood in my way. I ran quickly up a hill and went behind a casemate and threw a grenade in there. A few seconds later, a cloud of blood shot out from inside the casemate and then I ran with the other men to secure the beachhead.
After we secured the beachhead, I walked to the part of the beach where I landed at and looked around for where Jackson was killed at. I looked closely at what was left of my former comrade. Then the sun glistened at something silver in the sand. It was his dogtags. I grabbed then and I looked down at his remains, and gave him one last solute before glancing behind me and staring into the ocean. What was once a vast mass of blue was now a sea of blood. Of the 30 men that were with me on my landing craft, only 4 were left. The memories still come back to haunt me, and I still wish my entire squad was still alive.