The Bedford Boys: One American Town's Ultimate D-day Sacrifice Read Online Free PDF Page A

three officers and two enlisted men and set off towards the D-1 draw.
    The tide was turning in favor of the Americans at last. By now, other groups had also broken through the beach defenses and were fighting their way up the bluffs all along Dog Green and other sectors of Omaha. Hal Baumgarten joined eleven other men, most of them wounded. Now they were scrambling along a trench midway up the Vierville bluffs, stepping over dead Germans. One had his head blown off. Baumgarten wondered if it was the man he’d fired on earlier that morning.
    A machine gun fired from a beach house nearby. Despite his wounds, Baumgarten was feeling “remarkably strong.” 30 Adrenaline coursed through him. He spotted a German, took aim, and fired. It was only the second time he’d done so that day. A small redhead tossed a grenade and the machine gun fell silent. Baumgarten’s group was now down to eight men. All afternoon, Baumgarten would fight on with the remnants of Company A and B. By 5 P.M., his group would be down to seven men and have killed at least ten more Germans.
    More and more men were getting off Dog Beach and moving inland. Captain Robert Walker of the 116th Infantry’s headquarters had swum ashore around 7:30 A.M. By 12:30 P.M., he was “about halfway to the top” of the bluffs. “I rested for awhile in a small gully,” he recalled. “After awhile, I heard the sound of someone groaning nearby and calling for help. It was about fifteen or twenty feet away. Cautiously I went over to investigate and saw it was a German soldier, gravely wounded in his groin. He had already been treated by a medical aid man. He had a bandage loosely fixed over the wound, sprinkled with sulfa powder. He was gasping, ‘Wasser , wasser’ —German for water.
    “I assumed he had been given a sulfa pill which causes great thirst. In German I told the man I had no water with me and didn’t know where to get any. He then said there was a spring. He called it ‘ein born,’ about fifty feet away. I didn’t believe him but I made my way over to the area he indicated. Incredibly, there actually was a spring, a sort of water hole with apparently clear water in it. I filled my helmet with water and brought it to him. After drinking thirstily, he thanked me profusely. I left him some water in his canteen cup. Later on his groans became weaker and he soon died.” 31
    Twelve miles out at sea, John Barnes, Roy Stevens, and other survivors from their landing craft boarded the Empire Javelin . Most were near naked beneath blankets. Some had even lost their dog tags. Their shock had given way to a deadening exhaustion. They ached for sleep but could not. The battle for Omaha was still raging.
    The Empire Javelin was unnervingly quiet. Only a few hours ago, its decks had been crammed with anxious men. John Barnes salvaged his wallet from his drenched kit. He took out his invasion currency, laid out the notes on a bunk to dry, and then went on deck. Some time later, he returned to the bunk to lie down. The money was gone.
    Several men wanted to re-arm and take the next landing craft back to the beach. They were told this was not possible. The surviving LCAs were not fit for further use on D-Day. Most were badly damaged and covered in gore and vomit. The flotilla had to return to England for essential repairs. Besides, the men were too exhausted to fight effectively. “We were to stay on board, go back to England, get re-armed and make our way back to the company,” recalled John Barnes. “Gearing had picked up a spare rifle and said he would hitch a ride on a passing U.S. craft. He ordered us to stay together and left Sergeant Stevens, our NCO leader, in charge. There was no doubt that Stevens would get us back since he was concerned about his brother, Ray.” 32
    Bedford boys Roy Stevens, Charles Fizer, Harold Wilkes, and Clyde Powers could hear a constant barrage, especially intense between midday and 1 P.M. when several American and British