Last night I finalized our itinerary, actually putting down on paper the names of our hotels and contact information and travel schedule for the Normandy and Paris portions. I did this for us and for our families and Aunt(s) Pam and Meagan who will be here with the kids.
Within an hour of sending it out, I got an email right back from my dad, "You know George was wounded at Normandy." George. My grandfather. Wounded at Normandy on D-Day.
How could I have forgotten that? I'm ashamed to admit I've just never had any interest in World War II. That seems downright embarrassing given the fact that over 6,000 men gave their lives or were wounded on that day. And really it wasn't even that long ago. June 6, 1944. (Mike would like me to admit that this is even more embarrassing given that I married one of the few 37-year-old WWII history buffs in the world.)
So I called my mom (George is her father) and asked her to fill me in on my grandfather's history there. She said he never really spoke about it with her, but that my dad would know more. Fascinating... Grandpa never shared this stuff with her or her mother or sisters.
Next call was to my dad. Now, for those that don't know, my parents are divorced. So it seems funny that my dad is actually the one who my grandfather shared this with, but my dad said that he would stay up at night and talk with my grandfather. He just never wanted to burden my grandmother with such horrific stories.
I was able to determine the following, it's not very detailed, but it's something to help me put a personal perspective on our trip next week. And, yes, I fully admit that it is an oral account, I don't have any paperwork or documents. But I'm okay with these fragments from other people's memories. Any little bit helps.
George M. Hall, age 26, was drafted from Calloway County, MO. He was sent somewhere in Arkansas (we think) for basic training and then on to Camp Shank in New York. From there he headed to England (Hated the Brits, according to my dad, and that doesn't surprise me one bit).
By the time my grandfather returned home he had been gone for four years total.
For those who don't know, England was a great staging area. My dad says that during his waiting time there he saw quite a bit of the famous London sites. This alone kind of sits funny with me. A small town boy who finds himself in London. London! What did he think of this? Did he even know much about the city or the history at his fingertips? Could he have imagined what awaited him during the D-Day invasion?
On D-Day, my grandfather sailed across the sea to France. I don't know his division number and my dad does not know which beach he landed on (Omaha or Utah). However, from what I've gathered from my aunt, I believe he may have landed on the beach at Omaha.
Side history lesson: The Germans believed that the Americans would invade from Pas de Calais, this is the area in France that sticks out closest to England. It makes sense to suspect an invasion from that point because it's the shortest distance to sail. And the Americans loaded up that area in England with a fake army to fool them. BUT, the real invasion took place farther south and west from there in the Normandy region, it was a sneak attack at an unlikely place.
So when the American soldiers invaded on D-Day, the divisions attacked two beaches. The soldiers who landed at Utah beach were scattered because weather conditions caused them to land farther south than they intended. There were far fewer casualties and that invasion was rather successful.
But Omaha was a blood bath. The opening scene from Saving Private Ryan - that's Omaha. Several thousand men lost their lives and were wounded there. And that's where my grandfather (I suspect) received his first injury. A severe shrapnel wound.
According to my dad, the shrapnel caused back and nerve damage and he was unable to walk. So he remained at a Normandy field hospital until he regained his ability to walk again. I can't imagine the horrific conditions there.
By the time he was able to rejoin the troops, a southern invasion was being launched called Operation Dragoon. Grandpa George was sent to join this southern invasion. Eventually, the troops in this operation would drive north to meet up with Patton's troops.
At some point during the invasion, my dad said that my grandfather's unit was sent into a town that had supposedly been cleared. However, when they got there the town was actually still filled with Germans. A battle(?) of some sort ensued and he was wounded a second time. His fellow soldiers were lost and he was stuck in a "rut" where he believed he would die. But he was rescued. I wish I knew the details of that story. Who rescued him? Where was the rut?
At this point, he was promoted from infantry to truck driver.
Now, perhaps driving a truck, he became detached again from his unit and managed to end up at Bastogne. This area is where the Battle of the Bulge took place.
Side history lesson: In the winter of 1944, the Americans thought the Germans were pretty much finished. But the Germans launched a massive surprise counterattack against the weakest part of the Allied lines in the Ardennes forest. This created a "bulge" in the American lines. The town of Bastogne was in the center of the bulge, at a cross roads where most of the major roads crossed. American troops went to Bastogne to hold that cross roads and got surrounded by the Germans, they held out under siege for several days, until they were rescued by Patton's troops.
And so it appears from the oral history of my family members that Grandpa George was a part of D-day, the southern invasion, and perhaps touched by the events at Bastogne. If I had thought to start this research earlier, I might have been able to get more details and his unit number. I'm kicking myself for not knowing this. Our tour next week will take us to Utah and Omaha beaches.
My grandfather suffered from severe back and nerve pain the rest of his life. His relationship with my mother and her siblings was complicated (that's putting it lightly), and I can't help but think that severe pain and post traumatic stress disorder probably played into this. But, putting that aside, I am eager to see the place where so many men, like my grandfather, made the ultimate human sacrifice and where the world's future was forever changed.
P.S. History credit goes to Mike. He made me watch The Longest Day movie (it was actually good) and helped me put these history lessons down for folks who, like me, are extremely uneducated.
