Lacy Luke Rader was a part of the operation on D-Day and stormed the beach in the "Normandy Invasion". The boys chosen for the invasion were given a psychological test to see how much stress they could take and trained for about 6 months. They did not know that they were training for the Normandy invasion, they only knew they were training for a landing. Soldiers who had trained for the invasion were given a really good meal June 5th, the day before the invasion. Many thought that meal would be their last. At dawn on June 6,1944, the invasion began. The date later became know as D-Day. About 152,000 soldiers from the USA, Britain and Canada (V-corps) launched the largest sea invasion in history. The planned landing beaches covered about 45 miles of the bay's shoreline. The boys faced death head-on with fear and the conviction that they were helping to eliminate the planet of one of the world's most despicable and despised tyrants. Luke rode through the very rough English Channel to the shore of Normandy. A storm had recently passed over and the water was very choppy. Along with Luke, there were about 30 other men plus one officer on a PLV (personal landing vehicle), a boat with a forward ramp. The boats had to avoid mines floating in the water. Some boys were seasick and throwing up, all were afraid, some prayed. Most were sleep deprived from worrying about the attack. Luke recalled that they were told, "When that ramp goes down, you hit that water. If you don't, and they don't shoot you, we will." The gates lowered, the debarking troops faced machine gun bullets which flew into the boats to hit the boys standing closest to the opening. Some were hit and killed before they touched the water. Some dove into the water, some went over the sides to escape the machine guns. Boys who rushed the exit via the ramp were forced to shove the bodies into the tide. Each boy that day wore 60 pounds of supplies, 40 pounds of especially prepared explosives including gas cans. The boys also carried, in addition to their personal weapons, a gas mask, 5 grenades, a half pound block of TNT with primer cord fuse and 6 one-third rations ( 3K's and 3D's). The boys wore life preservers better known by the boys as their "May West" and all clothing was impregnated against gas. They sank into the cold water, often several feet deep, due to the weight of their packs and equipment. Dead bodies floated in the red water. The boys were forced to step around and on them in their haste to reach the shore. Luke struggled to fight the tide without also falling down. Many boys who did fall grabbed their brothers for help in getting back up. Some pulled wounded boys to shore with them. They had to avoid logs that had been implanted in the sand to prevent them from landing as they rushed shoreward. In addition to these obstacles, the brave boys walked straight into sniper bullets and machine gun and cannon fire. Some boys hid behind the steel barricades imbedded with the logs. One boy in the water behind a steel barricade waiting to rise up and return fire kept getting hit in the face by a human leg. The tissue inside, including the veins and muscle, were visible to him. Many boys were exhausted before they reached the shore. On shore, there was 200 yards or more of open sand with land minds to cross before they could reach cover at the sea wall. At the shore's edge, the water bubbled blood instead of white bubbles. Several boys who almost made it out of the water lay their, face down in the sand. The tide moved in and out moving them with it. All who were killed lay facing the enemy, not one had tried to run away. Casualties were very heavy and many on shore had already fallen. The beaches were becoming littered with human bodies and remains. To the farm boys like Luke, it looked like many hogs had been slaughtered that day. Sometimes dead bodies were used for cover. Boys who had been injured called for help. Luke faced the unspeakable hell ahead with his head down. Luke was forced to make a run for it, ziz-zagging along until he fell over a body and crawled on his elbows and knees along the beach until he could stand again. He kept his head down, just missing bullets and fire over his head, bent at the waist, running, jumping over bodies, swinging his gun back and forth, knowing he was lucky to still be alive. All around him, boys were being mowed down from machine gun nests and snipers in pill boxes on the cliffs. The pill boxes were made of thick concrete about 13 feet deep. They had a little rectangular hole where the gun barrels stuck out. The bombing only chipped away at the pill boxes. To put one out of commission, the boys had to get close enough to throw a grenade inside and kill the Germans. Machine gun nests, surrounded by sand bags, were also scattered along the cliffs. Trenches were dug behind the pill boxes where riflemen and snipers hid to shoot at the boys as well. More boys fell and lay crying out for help, but there was nothing Luke could do to help his brothers. As the seconds passed, the carnage grew on the sand. If a boy somehow dodged the bullets, chances are, he found a land mine. Luke saw, heard and smelled the smoke and burning fire of war that morning. The screams that he could not run away from. The death that filled his every sense was all around him. The hell on Earth that he had heard about from veterans from World War I, surrounded his every move. He, like all the other boys, thought that he would not make it through the invasion. He continued moving closer and closer to the enemy stepping in blood puddles and over the dead. He couldn't think about what he had been forced to do, only to do it. Finally he reached a fairly safe place from snipers and machine guns against the stone cliff that kept the pounding high tide water from eroding the shore line. When Luke looked back over his shoulder, he saw many vehicles, bulldozers used to clear the land minds for other vehicles, artillery equipment, and tanks that had delivered from the LST (landing ship transport) boats. Many were hit and destroyed before reaching the shore, but some had made it. Boys who had made it through the water were running and jumping over the bodies to try and find safety. Luke and others reached out their hands to drag the injured closer to the wall. A few radios carried on the backs of soldiers had safely reached a somewhat secure place also. They were used to radio to the ships in the channel to direct the ship's cannon fire on the German emplacements. From a church steeple above the cliff, inland, the Germans were directing their fire. When the steeple was blown up by the Navy cannons, the Germans were in disorder and disorganized with their firing. After several uninjured boys had gathered along the wall and regrouped, they were given orders to climb the rock cliffs to reach the top. The Germans strongholds nearest the cliffs had been knocked out or somewhat pushed back, by now. Ropes attached to metal grappling hooks were thrown up and over the cliff and slowly drug on the ground until they found something like a big boulder to hold tight to. By this time, the adrenaline rush had died down and the boys were exhausted. Some did not have the strength to climb all the way to the top. Assistance was given to them by the more energetic boys. Injured troops left behind the wall gave cover to them as best they could. On top of the cliffs, they faced fire again from the enemy who was well hidden in thick hedge rows and tree tops.