LMCane said:

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~at 0300 Allied bombers now begin hitting German defensive lines along the 50-mile Normandy coastline, about three hours after the airborne operations began at 0015

~0500- 0545 The naval bombardment begins. Seven battleships, 18 cruisers, and 43 destroyers open fire on the coast.

HMS Belfast, for example, opens fire at 0527

~0625 - 0630 The naval bombardment will run from roughly 0545 until 0625. The beach landings then begin, starting at 0631 AM

The aerial bombardment does very little damage, as poor visibility makes it difficult for bomber crews to hit their targets, and the naval bombardment is also considered too short to be fully effective.

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I came across this quote this morning... A day late but I feel worth adding none-the-less.
Hemingway was working as a journalist and was present for the D-Day landings on Normandy.

Quote:

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"Those of our troops who were not wax-gray with seasickness, fighting it off, trying to hold onto themselves before they had to grab for the steel side of the boat, were watching the Texas with looks of surprise and happiness. Under the steel helmets, they looked like pikemen of the Middle Ages to whose aid in battle had suddenly come some strange and unbelievable monster. There would be a flash like a blast furnace from the 14-inch guns of the Texas, that would lick far out from the ship. Then the yellow-brown smoke would cloud out and, with the smoke still rolling, the concussion and the report would hit us, jarring the men's helmets. It struck your near ear like a punch with a heavy, dry glove."
- Ernest Hemingway

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Thank you for this thread - I look forward to it every year…. My grandfather and great uncle fought in ww2 - one was a forward observer for artillery, as best we could tell, in Europe and the other was a b-25 pilot lost outside of a small island in the pacific.

God bless to all of those that served…….

TEXAS AGGIES D-DAY OPERATIONS, JUNE 5 & 6, 1944:
Complete Roster from My Research Since 2023

KILLED IN ACTION JUNE 6, 1944

Maj. Paul Jones Stach, Class of 1941
Unit: B-26 Marauder "YU-W" (#41-31961), 455th Bombardment Squadron, 323rd Bombardment Group (M), 9th Air Force
Action: Pilot on Mission No. 199, targeting road junctions at Caen, France. Anti-aircraft fire disabled his left engine and ignited a fire in the bomb bay. Despite the burning, crippled aircraft, Major Stach maintained control long enough to steer out of formation preventing a mid-air collision with his wingmen and ordered his crew to bail out. Three crew members parachuted to safety. Stach and three others were killed when the aircraft exploded on impact near Mezidon, approximately 22 kilometers southeast of Caen.
Decoration: Distinguished Service Cross, posthumous General Orders No. 38, HQ European Theater of Operations, 1945.
Note: One of three A&M brothers from Rosenberg, Texas, who served.
Buried: Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery, San Antonio, Texas.

SSgt. James Hull Japhet, Class of 1943
Unit: 101st Airborne Division, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, Company I
Action: D-Day combat parachute jumper into Normandy, June 6, 1944. Declared killed in action; missing over Normandy since July 1944.
Decorations: Combat Infantryman's Badge, Purple Heart, and Presidential Citation.
Buried: Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, Tablets of the Missing.

Capt. Jack Grady Wilson Cooper, Class of 1940
Unit: B-24 Liberator "No Love No Nothin'" (#44-40471), 863rd Bombardment Squadron, 493rd Bombardment Group (Heavy)
Action: Pilot. Missing in action since the beginning of the Normandy invasion, June 6, 1944 believed shot down over France. Had been overseas only a short time. Before service: oil company employee, Houston, Texas.
Buried: Brittany American Cemetery and Memorial.

WOUNDED IN ACTION JUNE 6, 1944

Capt. Frank H. Corder, Class of 1940
Unit: 2nd Ranger Battalion, Pointe du Hoc
Action: Went into France at H-Hour on D-Day as part of Col. Rudder's 2nd Ranger Battalion. Seriously wounded minutes after the beach landing, according to Rudder's own postwar account. One of ten men in the Second Ranger Battalion to receive a Presidential Citation.
Decorations: Silver Star for gallantry on D-Day, Purple Heart for wounds, and Presidential Citation.
Outcome: Survived. Recovered at William Beaumont Hospital, El Paso, Texas. After the war, he and Col. Rudder opened the Corder-Rudder Tire and Supply Co. in Brady, Texas.
Home: Rock Springs, Texas.

1Lt. Radcliffe Spencer Simpson, Class of 1940
Unit: 82nd Airborne Division, 319th Glider Field Artillery Battalion
Action: Died of wounds received during D-Day glider operations on June 6, 1944. KIA recorded June 7. Veteran of prior campaigns at Bizerte, Sicily, Salerno, and Italy. West Point graduate after A&M.
Buried: San Antonio, Texas.

Capt. William E. Lester, Class of 1939
Unit: Infantry, European Theater
Action: Wounded in action on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Recovered and returned to his unit as battalion executive officer. Wounded again on August 30, 1944, near Brest this time losing a leg. Petroleum Engineering degree, A&M.
Outcome: Survived. Recovering at McCloskey General Hospital, Temple, Texas, at the time of reporting.

GROUND ASSAULT TROOPS JUNE 6, 1944

Col. J. Earl Rudder, Class of 1932
Unit: 2nd Ranger Battalion, Commander
Action: Commanded the famous D-Day assault on Pointe du Hoc scaling the 100-foot cliffs of Normandy under direct enemy fire, silencing the coastal guns threatening both Utah and Omaha beaches, and holding the position against determined German counterattacks. His D-Day story was featured in a special Saturday Evening Post article.
Decoration: Distinguished Service Cross.
Background: Former John Tarleton College head football coach; played center for the Aggies.
Outcome: Survived.

Lt. Col. Garlen R. Bryant, Class of 1931
Unit: 4th Infantry Division, G-1 (Adjutant General)
Action: Landed in Normandy on D-Day. He and two of his men were captured by the Germans and added to 25 previously captured American paratroopers. Using one of his men as an interpreter, Bryant talked his guards into surrendering, then disarmed additional Germans as they arrived. He returned to American lines with 172 German prisoners. Fought through France and Germany.
Decorations: Croix de Guerre with Palm, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Silver Star.
Home: Temple, Texas.
Outcome: Survived.

Maj. Warren D. Stubblefield, Class of 1934
Unit: 101st Airborne Division, 327th Glider Infantry Regiment
Action: Went into France as a glider infantry officer with the first wave of the D-Day invasion. Had been overseas for ten months. Killed in action in France on June 12, 1944 six days after landing.
Buried: Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, Plot F, Row 5, Grave 43.
Survived by: widow, daughter Carol Ann, parents, sister, and brother.

Maj. Tony Ketterson, Class of 1931
Unit: 82nd Airborne Division
Action: Rode a glider into France on D-Day. Confirmed that three other Aggies rode in the same wave. Once on the ground, the division fought for 55 hours straight before any break, spending two days behind German lines before linking with ground forces.
Outcome: Survived.

Lt. Col. Bennie Zinn, Class of 1926
Unit: 82nd Airborne Division
Action: Confirmed by Maj. Tony Ketterson was riding a glider into France in the same D-Day wave.
Outcome: Survived.

Lt. Col. Raymond Singleton, Class of 1940
Unit: 82nd Airborne Division
Action: Confirmed by Maj. Tony Ketterson was riding a glider into France in the same D-Day wave.
Outcome: Survived.

Capt. Shelby White, Class of 1941
Unit: 82nd Airborne Division
Action: Confirmed by Maj. Tony Ketterson was riding a glider into France in the same D-Day wave.
Outcome: Survived.

1/Sgt. Bruno E. Schroeder, Class of 1939
Unit: 101st Airborne Division, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment
Action: Parachuted into Normandy on D-Day. Landed unhurt. Awarded the Silver Star for gallantry in action one of eleven members of the division so honored following the D-Day drop. Later, he parachuted into Holland (where he was wounded) and received a battlefield commission.
Decoration: Silver Star.
Home: Lockhart, Texas.
Outcome: Survived.

Capt. Jack E. Golden, Class of 1942
Unit: 1st Infantry Division ("Big Red One")
Action: His division was the first to land on Normandy beach on D-Day. He had also landed on Sicily with the first wave, one of the few Aggies documented at the first wave of both major Allied amphibious assaults in the European and Mediterranean theaters.
Decoration: Silver Star with Oak Leaf Cluster.
Outcome: Killed in action in Germany, April 15, 1945.

Lt. Col. John Forrest Smith, Class of 1934
Unit: 90th Infantry Division
Action: Went into France on D-Day. Saw 220 days of continuous combat through France, Luxembourg, and Germany.
Decorations: Distinguished Service Cross, French Croix de Guerre, Silver Star, Purple Heart, Bronze Star.
Home: Houston, Texas.
Outcome: Survived.

Lt. Bernard Sampson, Class of 1945
Unit: Unknown infantry unit
Action: Wrote that he had been the first Aggie to land in France, coming ashore at H-Hour on D-Day. He added that he would not have minded waiting a while, as "it was plenty hot."
Outcome: Survived.

Capt. Gaines Boyle, Class of 1939
Unit: 36th Infantry Division, Field Artillery (Battalion Liaison Officer)
Action: With the first wave of the Normandy invasion as a field artillery officer on June 6, 1944. Killed in action June 12, 1944 the same day that Maj. Stubblefield was killed in France.
Survived by: one brother, Edgar T. Boyle, Paris, Texas.

Capt. Bryan E. Mitchell Jr., Class of 1940
Unit: Engineer Battalion
Action: His battalion participated in campaigns in Ireland, England, Africa, Sicily, Southern Italy, and the Anzio beachhead. As he wrote, "My battalion made all four amphibious operations on D-Day, which is a record held by very few units."
Outcome: Survived.

1Lt. Ed A. "Gus" Felder, Class of 1941
Unit: 101st Airborne Division, 327th Glider Infantry Regiment, 1st Battalion Glider Infantry
Action: Landed in Normandy with the 101st Airborne as part of the D-Day glider assault. Wounded in the invasion of France on June 11, 1944, and died June 16, 1944, in an English hospital from those wounds, ten days after landing.
Background: Agriculture degree, 1941; entered the Army immediately after graduation. Known as "Gus" to his classmates (1941 Longhorn, Company B, Infantry, Marketing and Finance Club). A notable postwar story is attached to him a news article titled "WWII Footlocker Finally Finds Way to Soldier's Son" documented that his personal effects eventually reached his family decades later.
Survived by: wife, Mrs. Helen Connor Felder, Mrs. E.A. Felder, one brother, and Mrs. Leland Story, Abilene.
Buried: Cambridge American Cemetery.

PFC Luther Marney Tillery, Class of 1946
Unit: 82nd Airborne Division, Headquarters Company, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment Paratrooper
Action: Saw action in Normandy with the 82nd Airborne Division during the D-Day operations, then again in Holland during Operation Market Garden. Killed in action in France on March 14, 1945 nine months after the Normandy invasion.
Background: Mechanical Engineering student, attended A&M 194243 before entering service.
Survived by: Parents, Dallas, Texas; one brother.
Buried: Dallas Grove Hill Memorial Park, Dallas, Texas.

AIR OPERATIONS JUNE 56, 1944

Lt. Neilan E. Bemis, Class of 1942
Unit: C-47 Troop Carrier, 9th Air Force
Action: Won the Distinguished Flying Cross twice in one week for his actions during the D-Day invasion dropping paratroopers and towing gliders to the invasion area on June 56.
Decoration: Distinguished Flying Cross (awarded twice).
Home: Denison, Texas.
Outcome: Survived.

Capt. Kinion W. Tottenham, Class of 1931
Unit: 61st Troop Carrier Group
Action: His group received the Presidential Citation for outstanding performance during the opening phases of the invasion of France. Flew the leading elements dropping paratroopers on the Cherbourg Peninsula at Normandy on D-Day. His group completed four major airborne invasions: Sicily, Salerno, Normandy, and Holland.
Decoration: Presidential Unit Citation.
Home: Nacogdoches, Texas.
Outcome: Survived.

Lt. Ira E. Grounds, Class of 1942
Unit: P-51 Mustang, 8th Air Force
Action: On D-Day, June 6, flew with Col. Donald Blakeslee's group from dawn to midnight described as the longest escort mission on record, flying to Brux, Czechoslovakia, and back. He then flew the first three-point shuttle mission of the war, from England to the Soviet Ukraine and back via Italy.
Decoration: Air Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters.
Outcome: Survived.

Col. Willis W. Mitchell, Class of 1933
Unit: C-47 Troop Carrier Group
Action: Led a mass formation of C-47s over the Cherbourg Peninsula during the Normandy invasion. Received the Purple Heart for wounds received on that mission. Also held the Distinguished Flying Cross for leading his group in the Sicilian invasion and the Air Medal for dropping airborne troops at Salerno.
Decorations: Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal, Purple Heart.
Outcome: Survived.

Lt. Sidney V. Wadsworth, Class of 1941
Unit: P-51 Mustang, 8th Air Force
Action: His group received commendations for covering the French invasion from dawn until dusk for three weeks during the D-Day operations. Went missing in action over France on August 7, 1944, after accumulating more than 60 combat missions.
Home: Dallas, Texas.

SUMMARY

Total confirmed D-Day participants across all three documents: 27 men.

Killed in action on June 6 or directly from June 6 wounds: 6 men
(Stach, Japhet, Cooper, Stubblefield, Boyle the latter two dying within days of landing and Felder, died of wounds June 16)

Wounded on June 6: 3 men (Corder, Simpson, Lester)

Ground assault troops confirmed at the beaches or in the airborne drops: 15 men.

Air crew flying D-Day missions June 56: 5 men

Units represented: 2nd Ranger Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division, 101st Airborne Division,
4th Infantry Division, 90th Infantry Division, 1st Infantry Division ("Big Red One"),
36th Infantry Division, 61st Troop Carrier Group, 323rd Bombardment Group,
493rd Bombardment Group, 9th Air Force, 8th Air Force, Engineer Battalion.

This is a link to an extensive interview with General Eisenhower on the 20th Anniversary of D Day.

Walter Cronkite asks the questions. The two begin in the HQ with the original wall-sized map of the invasion still preserved as it was on June 6, 1944.

Then the two men walk on the beaches.

Ike discusses Rudder and his Ranger battalion at about 34 minutes into the program.

If you have not seen it, you should take the time to watch it all the way through. This country was so blessed to have the leadership that Ike represented.

Martels Hammer said:

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Too many landing craft in the video; only 10 LCA's were used to carry the 225 men to Pointe du Hoc, 2 supply LCA's for ammo, food, etc, and 4 DUKWs with the 100 ft ladders for scaling the cliffs

Great thread!

This was on my Dad's 20th birthday. He and his crew heard about it on the way back from a mission over Burma.

Was just there a couple of weeks ago. A very emotional visit even though my dad fought in the pacific.

[

At this hour in Normandy, the 101st Airborne has been in combat for six hours.

The mission was simple: "There's fire along that hedgerow there. Take care of it."

The order went to First Lieutenant Richard "Dick" Winters, the acting commander of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division.

The order came from the battalion's operations officer, Captain Clarence Hester, who, with a sweep of his hand, showed Winters the area he was to attack. The sound of the enemy fire was close and unmistakable. German artillery was raining fire down on Utah Beach, the westernmost invasion beach along the Normandy coast, where at that very moment American soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division were struggling ashore.

It was the 8:30 in the morning of D-DayJune 6, 1944.

The mission should have gone to Easy Company's commander, First Lieutenant Thomas Meehan III, but he was nowhere to be found.

It was later learned that Meehan, along with an entire stick of 18 paratroopers, died when their C-47 "Skytrain" transport plane, chalk #66, was hit by antiaircraft fire and crashed near Beuzeville-au-Plain, France. Winters, Easy's 1st Platoon commander, became the acting commander by default.

Winters, like every paratrooper around him, had jumped into Normandy some seven hours earlier and had had most of his equipment ripped off his body during the violent exit from his C-47. Fortunately, he had picked up a discarded M-1 rifle and a few grenades during his trek to the small town of Le Grand Chemin, where the battalion had set up temporary headquarters.

Winters could count only 11 Easy Company men from a unit that normally numbered nearly 200.

With him were Lieutenant Lynn "Buck" Compton, Staff Sergeant Carwood Lipton, Staff Sergeant Bill Guarnere, Sergeants Don Malarkey and Myron Ranney, Corporals Joseph Liebgott, John Plesha, and Joe Toye, and Privates Walter Hendrix, Robert "Popeye" Wynn, and Cleveland Petty.

Fortunately, Winters was also able to gather a few more volunteers from other 506th units who had been misdropped during the chaotic aerial assault:

Privates John Hall of Alpha Company, Gerald Lorraine, and Virgil "Red" Kimberling of Headquarters Company agreed to join the attack.

Then Private Walter Hicks from Fox Company showed up and offered to help. "Hicks," Winters said, "see if anyone else from F Company wants to go along." Hicks brought back Sergeant Julius "Rusty" Houck.

Winters now had 17 men, including himself.

Winters had one wild card in his group. Bill Guarnere had learned before the jump that his brother had been killed in Italy. He was not only angry and wanting to kill every German, but he did not trust Winters.

"I respected Winters as an officer," Guarnere later wrote, "but no one proved themselves in combat yet." Earlier that morning, when the men had encountered a horse-drawn supply train, Guarnere had let loose, slaughtering men and animals. "I had so much anger I might have turned around and shot him [Winters] if he had tried to stop me."

Winters gathered his team along a road just outside the village of Le Grand Chemin, about five miles inland. "Just weapons and ammo," Winters told the men. "Leave everything else here." Sergeant Lipton instinctively dropped his musette bag, which held some blocks of TNT and percussion caps. He would later regret it.

Winters led his small force across a field toward the guns, crawling ahead of them along a hedgerow, until he could get a view of the enemy battery.

He saw four 105mm artillery pieces firing from a trench, dug in behind a hedgerow. Three guns faced east and one faced north, protecting the battery's left flank. The position resembled an L-shape with zigzagging trenches connecting each gun pit.

The field itself was surrounded by hedgerowsthick earthen walls cluttered with trees and overgrowthas tough and as impenetrable as a stone fortress. Behind the 105s, at the opposite side of the field, a few machine-gun nests protected the battery's rear. At the far end of the field, opposite the approach of Winters's force, ran a small country road, on the other side of which stood a barn and a houseBrcourt Manor.

Winters did not know it, but his troops were up against approximately 50 enemy soldiers from the 6th Battery of the 90th German Regimental Artillery.

The locals considered the young German gunners to be fanatic Nazis. Earlier that day German Lt. Col. Friedrich von der Heydte, an experienced paratrooper and commander of the 6th Fallschirmjger Regiment, had climbed the church tower at nearby Sainte Marie du Mont and saw the Allied invasion fleet off Utah Beach.

He rushed to the 6th Battery at 8 am and immediately ordered the weapons manned and firing. By the time Winters had received his orders, the gunners at Brcourt Manor had already repulsed one probing attack from elements of the 506th.

HTownAg98 said:

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After I was there for a one day tour, I've told everyone I know they should go. I'll likely go back to spend more time there. You will see the American flag flying alongside the French flag everywhere, and the locals are very welcoming of US visitors.
When you stand on Omaha Beach, you can appreciate the distance these men had to cover to get from the edge of the water to some semblance of cover. It's awe-inspiring and horrifying at the same time.

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First broadcast from CBS News Radio in New York reporting on a possible invasion of France

THIS IS D-DAY

The bravest of the brave pic.twitter.com/JF4TFB9Dg3

— Jake Wallis Simons (@JakeWSimons) June 6, 2026

D-Day: Invasion of Normandy [Real Footage in Colour] pic.twitter.com/ArMiGatrBw

— Voices of WW2 (@VoicesofWW2) June 6, 2026

At this hour in Normandy spotters observe GIs advancing up the slope behind Easy Red and Easy Fox sectors, and the fortified house at Exit E-3 has now fallen silent, with a destroyer shelling Les Moulins.

Toward the end of the afternoon, American troops are now occupying the strongpoint and ending the resistance there.

Critically, at 1535 the German 352nd Panzer Division incorrectly reported to Wehrmacht Army HQ that the Allied attack had been pushed back to the sea

a mistake they did not correct until 2000 a catastrophic intelligence failure for the Germans.

https://archive.org/details/Complete_Broadcast_Day_D-Day/Complete_Broadcast_Day_440606_Part_001.mp3

at this hour on D-Day the 5 invasion beaches have been secured, although none are linked to each other.

troops are now heading inland, sometimes up to 5 miles. British troops will be stopped short of their day's objective the city of Caen.

Americans moving off the beaches of Omaha and Utah moving inland

D-Day in Color: Reinforcements Secure the Beachhead 🇺🇸🇬🇧

The Normandy beachhead is now firmly in Allied hands as supply convoys, DUKWs, and fresh troops continue moving inland after the initial assault.

German prisoners are gathered under guard while Coast Guard rescue boats… pic.twitter.com/qgZMhhe9Sw

— War Times (@wartirnes) June 5, 2026

OldArmy71 said:

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This is a link to an extensive interview with General Eisenhower on the 20th Anniversary of D Day.

Walter Cronkite asks the questions. The two begin in the HQ with the original wall-sized map of the invasion still preserved as it was on June 6, 1944.

Then the two men walk on the beaches.

Ike discusses Rudder and his Ranger battalion at about 34 minutes into the program.

If you have not seen it, you should take the time to watch it all the way through. This country was so blessed to have the leadership that Ike represented.

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This was fantastic. The professionalism of Cronkite and humble honesty of Eisenhower are so refreshing in a time where media continuously looks for gotcha questions and moments. Really interesting insights of the stategy and tactics of D-Day.

Eisenhower freely admitted they (Allied Command) didn't get everything right, but simply said it was war, things happened and went sideways, but the ingenuity and fight of the American soldiers and Allied forces prevailed despite any failures in planning. I pray we have leaders like those men in our military today.

I really enjoyed this, thanks for posting.

And thank you LMCane for all the timelines and video/audio clips. I always pull out the maps and try to follow the battles.

LM, thank you so much for starting and adding to these memories. I just returned Tuesday night from a Band of Brothers tour.

Your posts help me carry that memory along.

It is now 2330 the evening of June 6

following the previous 24 hours of intense combat and due to the difficulties experienced by US troops at the start of the landings, the Americans have only advanced about one mile inland in most places.

The beachhead is not yet secure and is still shelled by German artillery.

However German forces here are also off balance, and not yet able to make a strong counter-attack.

At Pointe du Hoc, the 2nd US Rangers have destroyed the long range coastal guns and held out against strong counter-attacks, losing 90 out of the 225 men who had originally landed.

Troops from the main beach landings have not yet linked up with them.

Thank you for providing a granular breakdown of the largest land and water invasion in history and a major turning point in the war!