DAY IN HISTORY- June 6, 1944

Sacrifices of D-Day

Let us never forget the fallen

Omaha Beach at Normandy, today is a memorial site. This place is forever hallowed ground. Photo credit Nicolas Comarmi

Today is the anniversary of D-Day, a day when a coalition of international forces came ashore in three waves on the beaches of Normandy. It was a horrible, terrifying day in the lives of so many soldiers and their families. It was a bloodbath; pure and simple.

Early in the morning on June 4, the American fleet sailed out of Plymouth in front of the invasion fleet. There was a nervous energy on the ship. Young men, 18, 19, 20-year-olds fresh off the farms and fresh out of high school prepared themselves to storm the shores of Normandy.

Some of the troops were writing letters to home. Others were playing cards. Most of them were praying and worried about the upcoming conflict.

The calm was replaced by a violent storm which delayed the invasion. Five miles into the trip, the storm intensified and they received word the invasion was postponed.

It was a good thing the invasion was called off because everyone on board was incredibly seasick by this time. A young medic named Joseph Sardo gave the young men soda crackers to help their nausea. After this common- sense medicine worked, they lovingly called him “Chief Crackers.”

Sardo volunteered to be in the war. His family had owned a funeral home and he was used to being around bodies. He was a little older than most of these soldiers, and he was committed to helping them win the war against fascism.

The next morning, the storm had lessened and the attack on Normandy was a go. Joseph Sardo was headed directly for Omaha Beach. Little did he know, the next day he would be pulling their young bodies off the bloody beach.

Like many of the young soldiers, Sardo was in a LST: a landing ship tank. These large ships would open a hatch to deploy tanks troops and heavy equipment into the water and the beach.

As the soldiers approached the beach, loud shells streamed overhead and streaked fire across the sky. There was a roar coming from the Armada, thousands of planes dropped tons of aluminum strips, designed to foil, enemy radar.

Sardo’s job was to stay on the ship, which would soon be turned into a medical hospital, but instead he volunteered to go onto the beach. He grabbed a sack of morphine, bandages and sulfa powder and climbed a rope ladder down to a small boat.

The problem was, the Germans had planted mines in the water of the beach. The LSTs could not get close enough, forcing them to open up in deeper water. Many of the young American soldiers had no chance of survival. With the heavy equipment they were carrying, many drowned.

Master Chief Joseph Sardo gave his account for a biography many years later:

It was a disaster. Death was all around me, in front, and in back of me. That is how it happened, fast. Yes, death came fast, without notice. I tried to catch an arm that floated in front of me, hoping to return it to its owner. I wanted to help some of the men as I was in the water, but the colonel pushed me forward and told me to go ashore. I still hear his voice beside me as he said ‘You are needed on the beach.’ There was nothing I could do for the poor souls in the water.

I did get to the shore and took a moment to look back behind me. I did not believe what I was seeing, bombs were dropping all around me and I was surrounded by death that was now Omaha beach. The tide was red with the blood of the young soldiers.”

Three quarters of the men on Sardo’s boat never made it to the beach, they would hit a mine, drown or be shot. It was an intense fight for survival, where 4,414 Allied troops died in honor. Fighting to end fascism forever.

As we look back on the sacrifice of these young men and their families, it is ironic of our U.S. situation today. We are now without allies. We have an administration supporting fascism ideology. We have a president, who avoided military service in Vietnam because he was privileged. He has also had the audacity to call those who were killed in war “suckers and losers.”

© June 2026 A. Roe

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