D-Day Remembered: Through a Soldier’s Eyes.

Commemorating D-Day’s 67th Anniversary this week, we look back at the Allied invasion of Normandy, through a soldier’s eyes.

Ed Persons transferred to the 101st Airborne Division’s 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment, not  liking life with the 327th Gliders.  The pressure

Ed Persons - 101st Airborne Division

mounted as D-Day neared. “A day or two before, they moved us all into a marshalling area,” Persons said.  “They had armed guards all the way around that place, so nobody could get in or out.  They gave us anything we wanted to eat—steak, eggs, whatever.  …They had these big sand tables with the whole area—our drop zone, laid out.  They had the bunkers, the Germans, the roads, the rivers, the houses—everything all mapped out, so we all knew where we were supposed to be.  It was that detailed.”

On June 5, 1944, some 20,000 paratroopers from the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions filled nearly 2,000 aircraft for the night jump into Normandy. Conditions deteriorated once over the French coastline.  Cloud cover and enemy antiaircraft fire forced carriers off course.  “There was a hell of a lot of flak.” Persons said.  “Full planes were exploding.  Others fell like a rock in a trail of smoke and fire.  The planes were jumping all over the place.  …We lost a lot of good people.”

Dwight Eisenhower meets with members of the 101st Airborne prior to their night jump into Normandy.

Many paratroopers, including Persons, missed their drop zones.  “I landed in a swamp up to my chest just outside of Sainte Mere Eglise.  You’d find one guy, then another, then another.  Somebody takes charge and you start working toward objectives.  But a lot of paratroopers never made it out of that swamp.  Quite a few got hung up in trees and shot right away.  The Germans loved that—target practice.  You’d come across a glider and the men were still sitting in their seats—dead.  They never had a chance.

“…It was just guerilla warfare for the first three days.  …We were trained very well….  But the truth is, we were trained to kill.  We were very good at it, and that’s just what we did.  …We did what we had to do.  But the sad thing is, it really hurt later on.

“…After it was all over, I brought back several guns—souvenirs from the war, but I’ve since given them all away.  Didn’t want them around anymore.  I had an SS officer’s dress sword.  It had a black, ebony handle, inlaid silver, with gothic writing on the blade.  I’ve only ever seen one other and that’s in a museum in Bastogne.  I don’t know if it was a captain or a major, but I got mine the hard way around Sainte-Marie-du-Mont.  I’ve since given it to my grandson.  …So much of it, I don’t care to remember.”

Persons survived subsequent engagements at Carentan, Eindhoven and Bastogne.  He would finish the war at Berchtesgaden, Hitler’s summer hideout.

Persons returned to Normandy after war.

After war, Persons moved on to live a rich full life, but the healing continues yet today.  He’s returned to Europe on several occasions, including the 50th Anniversary of D-Day.  “The French people treated us like royalty.  We had our celebration on the fifth.  At this little town of Sainte-Marie-du-Mont, the choir sang for us at the local church.  After they finished, in came 30 to 40 boys and girls, eight to ten years old.  They each unfurled these little cloth banners that they had made.  On the banners they’d written the word ‘Freedom.’  After they sang to us, they had a presentation ceremony and this little guy walked up to me and handed me this little banner with ‘Freedom’ on it.  That’s when the tears came.  I wouldn’t take a million dollars for mine.  It means that much to me.

“…Every house had a French, a British and an American flag flying out front.  We stayed with this real nice French family.  They were farmers, milked 60 cows.  We slept on handmade linen sheets.  The father belonged to the city council in Sainte Mere Eglise.  They presented me with a plaque.  It had the emblem of the 101st, then my name, thanking me for my part in liberating the village.  I took it as quite an honor.  I’m so very proud of it.

“…I’ll never forget, my daughter came up to me and said, ‘Daddy, I never knew you were that much a part of history.’”

Read Persons’ full story, and those of some 80 other war veterans, from the American Revolution to the War in Iraq, in Michael McCoy’s new release, EVERYTOWN, USA.

3 Responses to “D-Day Remembered: Through a Soldier’s Eyes”

  1. Martha A Ware says:

    Just thought you might want to know that the fellow wearing the sign with a 23 was John McGuire. After the war he lived in Nutley NJ.

    • mikemccoy says:

      Hi Martha,

      That is very interesting. Did you know John McGuire personally? What did he do after the war?

  2. TE says:

    My great uncle’s name was John McGuire, and he died on DDay. He was originally a chef and received a transfer as a paratrooper.

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