"No one and nothing else was there. I spent the night in my hammock. In the morning some other pharmacist mates arrived and I knew it wasn't a joke."
"The Navy prepared us well for war. As Pharmacist Mate, I received extensive training on wound care, shock treatment, bullet/shrapnel removal, setting fractures, control of bleeding, trauma treatment, stitching, treatment of infectious diseases, dressing and bandaging wounds, and chemical warfare first aid, etc."
"My recollection is that our LCI and 5 other LCI's among LST's and LCMs pulled up to Omaha Beach just at daybreak on June 6, 1944. Suddenly all hell broke out. Lt. Montgomery yelled, Get off the bridge and we abandoned the bridge immediately. The German bunkers that were supposed to have been blasted out in the air raid weren't. Fire started coming from everywhere. We carried men from the 1st Division (the Big Red One) to Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944."
"The fighting on the beach was the most horrendous for the first 5-6 hours. It eased up a little around what I thought seemed like lunchtime, but the shelling continued for two days. You should have seen my helmet. I wish I had saved it for my kids to see. I was told that the Germans wouldn't aim fire directly at men in the Red Cross helmets. A few hours into battle, I took my helmet off because I was certain they were aiming right at the Red Cross. I guess the Germans figured for every Hospital Corpsman they took out, the more overall casualties there would be. Dead corpsmen can't save lives."
