'I couldn't help but see all these GIs floating in the water': Veterans remember D-Day

Two 93-year-olds with firsthand experience of the Allied invasion of Normandy, France, during World War II shared vivid recollections of D-Day on Wednesday as the nation marked the 74th anniversary of the major military action.

Army veteran Dominick Errichiello and Navy veteran Dick Rung shared the D-Day stories they don't often tell at their retirement community, Windsor Park in Carol Stream.

Errichiello was aboard a landing craft infantry that came ashore June 6, 1944, on Omaha Beach in Normandy.

"I couldn't help but see all these GIs floating in the water" after the initial landing, he said. "I didn't want to see it, but I can't help but tell you that's what happened in the war."

Rung arrived at Omaha Beach the same day on a landing craft tank as he helped bring equipment ashore. He said he'll never forget the smoke, the smell and the blood of the invasion day - a moment that helped turn the tide of the war.

"There were dead bodies in rows and rows, plus arms and legs collected without any other remains," Rung said. "Omaha is 74 years ago, but I want to tell you something: Sometimes it's yesterday. It's yesterday."

Both say they tend to keep their war stories to themselves. But as aging veterans, Errichiello and Rung say they recognize many of their counterparts among the 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces who landed on Normandy's beaches during the invasion already have died. So they spent Wednesday afternoon passing these tales along.

Both remember the bad weather the day before the invasion and how it eased but kept storming on what became the fateful day.

Rung, who went on to a career teaching history and political science at Wheaton College and two other institutions, said the high waves made even Navy men seasick.

Errichiello, who spent a 49-year career as a mechanical engineering manager for Motorola, said the water was so choppy when his landing craft came ashore, it was tough to lower the ramp.

As infantrymen landed, weighed down with 25-pound packs, they were instructed to cover the barrels of their rifles with condoms to prevent the weapons from becoming waterlogged, Errichiello said. He said some who didn't follow the advice ended up misfiring and killing comrades, beginning the carnage.

Allied forces stormed the 50-mile stretch of beaches in waves, and by the time Errichiello's wave took its turn three hours in, German occupying forces firing from bunkers near the beach already had gunned down many predecessors. As he disembarked, Errichiello said, he and another soldier pushed together bodies and scattered body parts in the water to form a sort of shield.

"It saved us," he said. "For a while, anyhow."

Later, during the Battle of the Bulge, Errichiello was captured with eight others and taken prisoner. All nine tried to run from seven German captors, but he was one of only two who escaped. For his service, he has received a Silver Star, a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart.

Even without the benefit of hindsight to study and gain perspective on the pivotal invasion, the sailors knew of the mission's importance, Rung told about 250 Windsor Park residents and their relatives Wednesday.

"If the invasion were to fail," he said, "all would fail."