South Bend veteran remembers D-Day 72 years later
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) - Frank McCalment will never forget where he was 72 years ago on June 6.
Then a 22-year-old in the U.S. Navy, McCalment awoke early on June 6, 1944 to find he was part of D-Day, the first day of the Allied invasion of Normandy in World War II. It remains the largest seaborne invasion in history.
When McCalment's eyes opened that morning after a night sleeping on the deck of the heavy cruiser USS Augusta, the first thing he saw was an American B-17 bomber on fire in the sky right above the ship.
"We saw a lot of young fellows going in (to shore) on landing craft. I felt sorry for them," McCalment, 94, recalled Friday.
Some of those soldiers were shot and killed before they ever reached the beach. The sailors saw dead bodies floating in the water around their ship.
A second gunner on one of the Augusta's 5-inch guns, McCalment had the duty of preparing 100-pound shells as they were loaded and fired toward German strongholds along the French coast. The day seemed to go on forever.
"We had superior air power. The sky was almost black with Allied airplanes," he recalled.
"The Germans were firing back. Thank the good Lord, they never hit us," McCalment said.
The Augusta had left from Southampton on the southern coast of England two days before. The men knew something big was brewing because the English monarch, King George VI, made a visit on board shortly before the ship departed. "We figured we were getting ready for an invasion," McCalment said.
Lt. Gen. Omar Bradley rode on the Augusta when the ship headed to France.
The D-Day invasion began the liberation of German-occupied Europe and led to the Allied victory in the war.
Estimates place Allied casualties on D-Day at about 10,000, with at least 4,414 deaths. Estimates of German casualties range from 4,000 to 9,000.
The Augusta and its crew remained in active service off the coast of France for two or three weeks after D-Day. On one of those days, the ship received notice from Gen. George Patton that he was bogged down at a crossroads by German tanks and he needed help.
"We got in place and bombarded for about 30 minutes. Then we got word that the Germans were in retreat toward Berlin with Patton in hot pursuit," McCalment said.
About 156,000 Allied troops participated in D-Day, including 57,500 Americans.
More than seven decades after that historic invasion, there are fewer and fewer veterans still around to recount their memories.
It's estimated that only about 698,000 American World War II veterans are still living, with about 430 dying each day, according to the National World War II Museum.
McCalment was discharged from the Navy in January 1946. He returned home, got married and worked for an office furniture manufacturer in Muskegon, Michigan, for more than 30 years.
He his wife, Marilyn, have been married for 62 years. They moved to South Bend six years ago to be near their two adult daughters.
McCalment keeps busy walking about a half mile each day and tending a small garden. The couple has five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
He's never been one of those veterans who won't talk about his memories of the war. If people ask, he recounts his experiences.
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Source: South Bend Tribune, http://bit.ly/1U3EpFN
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Information from: South Bend Tribune, http://www.southbendtribune.com