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Saving Stories

Kentucky soldier gives harrowing first-hand account of his role on D-Day

By Alan Lytle
Published June 4, 2024 at 7:08 AM EDT
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FILE - This photograph is believed to show E Company, 16th Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, participating in the first wave of assaults during D-Day in Normandy, France, June 6, 1944. The greatest armada ever assembled, nearly 7,000 ships and boats, supported by more than 11,000 planes, carried almost 133,000 troops across the Channel to establish toeholds on five heavily defended beaches stretched across 80 kilometers (50 miles) of Normandy coast. More than 9,000 Allied soldiers were killed or wounded in the first 24 hours. (Chief Photographer's Mate Robert M. Sargent, U.S. Coast Guard via AP, File)
AP
/
US COAST GUARD
FILE - This photograph is believed to show E Company, 16th Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, participating in the first wave of assaults during D-Day in Normandy, France, June 6, 1944. The greatest armada ever assembled, nearly 7,000 ships and boats, supported by more than 11,000 planes, carried almost 133,000 troops across the Channel to establish toeholds on five heavily defended beaches stretched across 80 kilometers (50 miles) of Normandy coast. More than 9,000 Allied soldiers were killed or wounded in the first 24 hours. (Chief Photographer's Mate Robert M. Sargent, U.S. Coast Guard via AP, File)



This Thursday marks the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion in Normandy, France. Doug Boyd from the Nunn Center for Oral History in the UK Libraries shares audio from a 1994 interview with Garrard County native Jesse Beazley who was among the first wave of soldiers that fought their way onto Omaha Beach that fateful day.

Explore the Nunn Center's entire World War II oral history collection here.

The Kentucky Theatre is hosting a special commemorative program this Thursday evening at 5:30. Admission is free. Details below:

https://www.lexingtonky.gov/news/05-10-2024/city-honor-80th-anniversary-d-day

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Saving Stories World War II
Alan Lytle
Alan Lytle has more than 25 years of experience as a Kentucky broadcaster. Over that span he has earned multiple awards for anchoring, writing and producing news & features for WUKY. He took home the Kentucky Broadcasters Association's Best Radio Anchor award in 2021.
See stories by Alan Lytle