Omaha Beach Memorial perpetuates the memory of the American soldiers who landed on Omaha Beach in 1944.
THEY DID D-DAY ON OMAHA BEACH
Second Lieutenant Robert F. Clark
29th Division, 116th Regiment, HHC
My father was Robert F. Clark and on D-Day, he was a second lieutenant assigned to HHC of the 116th regimental combat team. That morning, he and his unit were aboard LCI 91 headed for Omaha beach. As they got closer to the beach, they started taking fire from the Germans. The ship hit a mine in the water and was taking on water at the bow. The ships commander backed up and tried to come in stern first but created a larger broadside target for the enemy and the ship was then hit by an "88", and conditions worsened.
Signalman 2nd Class Clifford A. Goodall
7th Naval Beach Battalion, Communication section
I joined the Navy on April 22 1943 and took training at Great Lakes Naval Training Station in Illinois for 9 weeks. I left the US I believe, in January of 1944 on the British Ship Mauratania. Got in a collision with a freighter about 5 miles out and had to return to New Yorkfor repairs. We took the northern route to England and it was terrible. One of the crew told me this was the roughest crossing he had in 20 years and I believe, because everyone was sick. It took us 11 days to get to Liverpool.
Private George H. Burr
29th Division, 116th Regiment, Company M
I entered in 1941 and was trained at Fort Devans in Massachusetts; then, we went to Fort Meade in Maryland. I was also trained for 13 weeks at Camp Croft in South Carolina. I was in the army when Pearl Harbor happened. The Sergeant at Camp Croft told us that they were no longer going to ask us where we wanted to go, we were at war and they would send us where they needed us. I was sent with a lot of others whose name began with “B” – Bianchi from Connecticut and Bowles from Massachusetts.