This week the 65th anniversary of infamous ‘D-Day’

Answers To Go

By Susan Smith

Each week hundreds of people call or visit the San Marcos Public Library to find information. "Answers•To•Go" highlights recently received questions. Please visit the library at 625 East Hopkins, call 393-8200 for information over the phone, or e-mail us through our web-page at www.sanmarcostx.gov/library.

Q. My dad would like me to pick up some books about D-Day. Do you have books devoted to the landing on Omaha Beach? Could you set them aside for me? I’ll be in when I get off work.

A. We’re always happy to pull a stack of books for callers.

This June 6 is the 65th anniversary of the Allies’ landing in Normandy. Let’s start with Dan Van der Vat’s “D-Day : The Greatest Invasion--A People's History” which is packed with period photos.

Here’s Van der Vat’s description of Omaha Beach: “Omaha was undoubtedly the most difficult invasion beach in physical terms as well as military. Though offering a broad enough sweep of sand at low tide (as much as a quarter of a mile), there are only a few yards left when the tide comes in. It is a little over six miles wide.

“What distinguishes it from the other invasion beaches is the near-vertical bluff—the leading edge of a plateau up to 150 feet high, 10 miles wide and up to two miles deep—that stands a few dozen yards inland of the beach.

“Men could scramble up it, but not vehicles. When they reached the top, they found tortuous terrain that was ideal for concealment.

“As Omaha was the only large beach on a twenty-five-mile stretch of coastline, the Germans had prepared particularly strong defenses — digging an antitank ditch between the bluff and the road along the beach, while lavishing concrete on strong points.”

Van der Vat also includes soldiers’ memories of June 6, 1944. This one caught my eye. “Jack Hoffler of Hertford, North Carolina enlisted in August, 1943 when he was only fourteen. The recruiting officer in nearby Elizabeth City wasn’t terribly particular.

“Assigned as a gunner on what the navy called an LCVP (Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel), he was part of the first wave to hit Omaha Beach. Hoffler recalls, ‘When we came in—I just don’t know how to describe it—it was just a hell of a mess. There were explosions, guys lying dead on the beach, guys getting killed right there on the landing craft’s ramp. I had to roll them off.

“‘We must have been there twenty minutes. We loaded up with the wounded, and then we went out again. Thirteen times we did that. Taking troops and supplies in and taking the wounded out….I knew what I was doing. I knew what I had to do there. I’d wanted to go to war.’”

You can check out up to 20 books at a time, so we’ll pick a big stack for your dad. Here’s a few sample titles: “The D-Day Companion: Leading Historians Explore History's Greatest Amphibious Assault;” Flint Whitlock’s “The Fighting First: The Untold Story of the Big Red One on D-Day;” Cornelius Ryan’s “The Longest Day;” Donald R. Burgett’s “Currahee! A Screaming Eagle at Normandy;” Joseph Balkoski’s “Beyond the Beachhead : The 29th Infantry Division in Normandy;” and Stephen E. Ambrose’s “D-Day, June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II.”