wow...if a solder was 18 on that day, then they'd be 87 right now. Hard to believe that WW2 vets are getting that old now.
I once talked to a guy who stormed the beach that day. He was telling me that he waded ashore, saw his bunkmate take a shot, took about 15 minutes in total to get from the boat to bottom of the cliff...and then he said he had a cigarette. As this old guy (probably in his late 70s) was telling this story), all I could think was "this guy is the most bad ass mother fucker I've ever met."
I mean, dude wades ashore while being shot at by German soldiers on a cliff above him, with no cover, runs through it all, and then stops for a smoke? Fuckin A, that dude kicks ass.