June 6, 1944, Normandy, France: 24 hours on Utah Beach with an Assault Reconnaissance Engineer

BY RICK CARRIER

Storm gray, rain heavy sky.

Battleships fill the horizon, north to south, guns aflame.

Fiery tracers fly low overhead, etch sparkling strings of color.

The pow-kapow of big enemy guns, shoot right at me.

Surging assault boats buck and roll in angry seas.

Voices, lurid curses, boys, men, calling, words beyond cipher.

Lurching scrape of keel on sand,

Boat chains rattle, the bow swings open.

Charging footsteps splash in stormy surf.

Flowing excited young voices, clear, vanishing.

Loud words, curses, whistles screech.

Enemy mortars, fluttering down, explode among us.

Somewhere a scream before he dies.

Tides wash this bloody shore.

Engines roar, spinning tank treads dig deep, in soggy sand.

Mines explode. Barbed wire shatters. Dead everywhere.

Daylight fades to deep purple.

Low churning clouds lit by blasting bombs.

No moon this night.

In blackness, unseen soldiers, silently brush by.

Eye whites caught in gunfire.

Signal lights, from thousands of ships, twinkle back and forth.

Muffled battle thunder, deep inland, humans groan.

Shadows pass over my foxhole.

No calling night sounds from insects on this deadly beach.

A sudden rain squall cools frightened skin.

Unrecognized noises rapping in the dark.

Deep chills race.

The smell of death and diesel fumes choke.

No friendly lights anywhere.

Arguments. More yelling, from somewhere else.

No sounds of laughter.

Soft, close whispers. Help. Dear mother. Please. Help me.

Shuffling feet in sand.

A rifle-bolt slams.

The flash of gunfire.

Another trembling call for help.

Returning dreams in

MY SILENT BATTLE.

NOTE: Longtime Chelsea Community Church member and Chelsea neighbor Rick Carrier died quietly on December 12, 2016. He was 91. Rick was a World War II veteran who landed on Normandy Beach on D-Day, and later was among those who discovered and liberated Buchenwald. He was a recipient of the prestigious French Legion of Honor Award. In 1959 he wrote and produced a feature motion picture entitled Strangers in the City, which has been shown on Turner Classic Movies several times. He wrote four successful how-to books and founded a nonprofit organization to raise awareness for the then-endangered bald eagle. With help from Connecticut Governor Ella Grasso, Rick persuaded President Reagan to declare June 20th Bald Eagle Day, still recognized by over 47 states.

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