. . Henry Parham served with the 320th Anti-Aircraft Barrage Balloon Battalion, the only all-black unit to land on Omaha Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Henry served in a segregated army, where African Americans were treated as second-class citizens. But to this native of Greenville, Virginia, segregation in the military
. . Eugene M. McShane is a native of Stonington, Connecticut. During WWII he enlisted in the Army in 1943 and trained as a forward artillery observer. During the allied invasion of Normandy, he landed on Omaha Beach (Dog Red zone) as part of the second wave, June 7, 1944 (D+1).
. . Howard Pfeifer had never heard of the Merchant Marines when a cousin in the Navy advised him to join in 1943. “You know you’re going to be drafted, and you’ll go wherever they need you,” he said. But, in the Merchant Marines, Howard could call his own shots. Eager
. . Peter J. Maurin entered the US Navy on June 30, 1942. He was aboard a LST 313 that was sunk during the invasion of Sicily. After returning to the United States, he redeployed to Europe and participated in the invasion of Normandy aboard a hospital ship. 97,
. . Norm Waldman has the distinction of being a D-Day paratrooper, a survivor of the Dresden firebombing, and a veteran of the Ukrainian Red Army. His story began when he joined the army in 1943 at the age of 18. He volunteered for the airborne for the extra pay. He
