Slide 1 – Hi I’m David Johnson I was part of the 2nd Ranger’s Battalion in the battle known to you as D-day. However we knew it by the name Operation Overlord.

Slide 2 – Before the war I lived in a small town in virginia called Farmville. I attended my local high school and lived a relatively simple life.

Slide 3 –When I turned 18 I had to fill out a draft registration card much like this one. This meant that my name was put in a lottery of names to be pulled for the war.

Slide 4 –My name out of millions was pulled to enter WWII. Demand was high for the 2nd ranger’s battalion so I received a somewhat brief training at camp forest Tennessee.

Slide 5 – At the time I was at camp forest General Eisenhower planned a massive surprise naval attack on the beaches of Normandy. He had hoped this operation would go undetected, but the German general Rommel sensed an attack so he fortified the beaches , making them a deathtrap for all enemies.

Slide 6 – we were loaded into wooden vessels armed with a .30 caliber machine gun and 36 troops. The boats traveled at about 14 miles per hour, and along the ride I vomited several times due to sea sickness. When the doors opened I saw more than 20 of my closest friends die in an instant.

Slide 7 – After seeing this onslaught I sprinted towards a makeshift barricade. I heard Colonel Max F. Schneider yell the words “Rangers lead the way!” and just like that, I was off running up Omaha beach, praying that I would not die. (podcast)

Slide 8- After I made it successfully up the cliffs, my job was to destroy the enemy turrets and bunkers. I charged into a German bunker with minimal ammo and assassinated the two guards. I quickly disabled the turret and realized my ammo was gone. Two guards from a nearby bunker heard the noise a stormed in.

I had no intention of being a prisoner of war, so I knelt to the ground and shut my eyes. When I heard the scream of a M1 Carbine, I immediately opened my eyes and saw that my squad mates had caught up with me and taken out the two other guards without any harm done to us.

Slide 9- I was exhausted and drenched in sweat, but I had no time for rest because our operation called for us to move further inland. The battle was won, but the war still raged on.

Slide 10- The invasion of France later came to be a rousing success. I was allowed to return home months afterwards and I received a medal for bravery. I feel like I grew up a little during the war and returned to my small house in Farmville, Virginia a man. Life was finally back to normal.

One day, while sitting in an open field looking at the sky, I began to think about what the German soldiers thought of the war. That was the first time I actually felt bad for taking a German’s life. I realized that though we believed in different things, that we are both people and we both had a right to live. Now every time I hug my family I cry, knowing that none of the German soldiers whose lives I took can do the same.

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