By Allen Hamrick
June 6, 1944, is a date which most has forgotten – outdated news, a flicker of the past that means nothing in today’s world. People would be no more wrong than if they said the moon could never rise. World War II had been razing the world to the ground and was in its fifth year. Hitler became the sole leader of a nation in dire need of a reconstruction after World War I. Germany’s economy had tanked, and something had to be done. Hitler let his intentions be known early that Germany would be the powerhouse and leader of the world. Freedom was way down on Hitler’s to do list. Germany had initiated a systematic destruction of anyone who stood in their way of controlling the world and its population. Hitler named a few groups to a list that had to be eradicated from the earth…mainly the Jews. There were millions of soldiers in his well trained army, and their weapons were second to none. To defeat them would take a miracle, but they had to be stopped so that those that were free nations would stay that way. Germany dropped thousands of bombs on their enemies and followed that with a heavy tank push… they called it blitzkrieg, or blitz for short.
Germany was defeating everyone, including England and France, and the world was shocked. Japan signed an agreement with Germany, as well as Italy, and together they formed the Axis powers. British troops were all that was standing in the way of Germany until Pearl Harbor when America was attacked. This plunged America into the war to end all wars – World War II. When the word was given, the ranks in the American forces were near twelve million and rising. Many men from Clay, as well as across the nation, answered the call of duty all the while those at home did their part. Americans began building an army to defeat both the Axis armies on the eastern front and the western front. Suddenly, both Germany and Japan both began to feel the sting of Americans getting into the fray. However, the war was not only costing money but also the lives of many soldiers. That’s when, behind closed doors, the Allied powers got together to figure out how to stop the invasion of the world all at once, an event that would be called D-Day.
Hitler knew something was up and began to build his defenses in the only place that the Allied powers could land – Normandy. Along a 2,400 mile shoreline Hitler called the Atlantic wall, 250,000 workers built the wall, six million mines were planted, and nets of barbed wire were stretched for miles in all directions. Steel spikes and huge logs were placed in low tide to tear the bottoms out of ships. Concrete bunkers, forts, and trenches were built using nearly a million tons of concrete.
On the other side of the battle, troops were training to get through all that would block their path. It was well planned, but as in war, it takes a small nothing to change the end result. There were a great many details to figure out, but it had to be on a day that the full moon was out so there would be light enough to land the gliders and drop the bombs. Everything had to be planned perfectly. By D-Day, there were 1.7 million Americans training in Europe for the battle to end WWII along with about a million troops from England and Canada. The training was tough, but the job was done.
Troops began to load up on ships on June 3, 1944, as a terrible storm put a halt on any mission. The storm was supposed to last for days, and the only possible break was to be on June 6, 1944. General Eisenhower, along with his advisers, had to make the decision whether to attack or not. Waiting was not an option. Paratroopers went in first concealed by the cover of night. One paratrooper was reported to say as he saluted General Eisenhower, “Look out Hitler, here we come.” Eight hundred planes lifted in the air with 20,000 troopers, and they reached Normandy at 1:30 AM. The planes started taking so much fire that the paratroopers had to jump before their actual landing zone. Tracer bullets lit up the night sky as soldiers were being hit. The plan was already unfolding as they were being forced to jump way before they were supposed to. The Germans flooded the fields, and many paratroopers drowned with their heavy packs weighing 200 pounds each. A new plan was made on the fly as they fought the Germans as best they could. These paratroopers secured bridges and key roads for the coming assault.
In the early morning hours of June 6, 155,000 soldiers with an average age of 22 were heading toward the beaches, and floating mines were there to greet them. All of them were prepared professionally – there was no greater army, but mentally it was tough. As soon as they boarded the wooden boats, the heavy seas turned many of the boats into coffins due to the storm. The bomber planes that were supposed to take out the heavy guns of the Germans had to fly by radar and not sight, and their bombs completely missed their targets leaving all the Germans intact. Our soldiers would have to cross a beach with no cover while the Germans were spraying them with bullets and fire. American troops faced the worst fire of the battle on Omaha Beach. More than a thousand Germans opened up their machine guns on the Americans. As soon as their doors were open on the landing craft, many of the units were annihilated before they ever hit the water. Men landed in water over their heads and drowned as others had to cross 500 yards of water then 1000 yards of beach sand with little to no cover. The plan was failing; if they didn’t win here, Germany could possibly take over the world. The dead and wounded lay everywhere, and the beach surf was red with blood.
The tide began to turn as individual men took control and led men to the cliffs they had to climb to take out the machine guns. The American forces finally reached the Germans who then had to defend themselves. There are many, many stories of D-Day and the heroism it took to defeat such an army as the Germans. There is no way any article could contain all the details or any common person with all the ability to live free could ever fully comprehend D-Day and the heroism men who served there portrayed.
Recently, a bridge at Indore was designated as a memorial bridge dedicated to the five Legg brothers who served in WWII. Charles Legg, US Army, Walter Legg, US Army, Russell Legg, US Navy, Homer Legg, US Army, and William Legg, US Navy, all brothers, served in the military from 1942 to1946. Homer Legg, who served in communications, was part of the landing of American forces in Normandy that liberated France, kept Jewish people from annihilation and allowed the world to be a free place by defeating the Germans and their desire to conquer. Homer earned five bronze stars during his enlistment, and let me remind you, one doesn’t earn bronze stars for general service, they are awarded for heroic achievement in battle, heroic service, or meritorious service…and he earned five. Charles Legg also earned three bronze stars. All the brothers did their part, as did many other servicemen from Clay.
The Legg brothers chose to serve others and were committed to do it regardless of the cost. The brothers enlisted to help their country and to rid the world of the tyranny that was taking place at the time. Homer Legg landed on Normandy during D-Day June 6, 1944 in one of the most horrific times the world has ever seen and played an integral part in that battle. He was a tough person, but his compassion for this country and family was beyond words. Nothing or no one was going to take that away as long as he had breath to fight for it. His life was neither meek nor mild, and his independence was a code of honor. He was full of integrity, strength and confidence, and his heart was indeed in tune with what a human was supposed to endure for his fellow man. We owe a debt that is impossible to pay to those that fought on that day – June 6, 1944, the beginning of the end of WWII.
