Landing at Normandy

Heroes Remember

Landing at Normandy

Transcript

The water was that rough, it was coming right over us. And I remember getting the carrier and putting the tarpaulin on and the ocean was coming right over you and slipping down the sides. So there was a lot of people sick, even the Naval that was on it. And I was on the landing craft, you know the one that opens in the front. When we started in, it just looked, it was a hell of a dirty day, you know, windy and rainy, and whatever. So when you look you thought it was rain, but here it was bullets and things coming in the water, you know, dropping, you thought it was just rain till you got handy it. And we went in before the attack with the SP gun, firing it, and I remember passing ammunition, we were passing the ammunition to the guy that was firing the thing. and you know, you had HC smoke and cinder and we used to say “What do you want next?” He says, “Give me any god damned thing. They’re all going in. They’re all going in anyway.” So here where we landed, there was a wall ahead of us, and the first carrier drowned in front. The first. We went off over the side. It really stops you, you know, you think, but in my mind I always thought I was scared of them. You know, are they gonna set fire to the water? It was done before that, you know, you release oils and things from the bottom. So I always used to think, if I keep my feet on land, I have a chance.

Description

Mr. MacDonald describes conditions at sea on landing day and how relieved he was, despite the danger, to get ashore.

Allan MacDonald

In a family of twelve children, Allan MacDonald was born on April 2, 1922, in New Waterford, Nova Scotia. His father was a miner, and following the death of his mother in childbirth, Mr. MacDonald joined his father in the mines. After joining the Air Force and not being called up, he joined the Army. Mr. MacDonald landed at Normandy and was later wounded in action, leaving him to survive with several pieces of shrapnel in his skull.

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