"I think it was really good therapy for me [writing about his war experience] because I
was able to think it all out and remember from day to day what I had done, and sort of put
it to rest, I guess." (Video Interview, 54:48)
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Charles H. Neighbor |
Charles Neighbor | World War II, 1939-1946
Army
E Company, 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division
European Theater; Omaha Beach, France
Private First Class
Iola, KS
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Charles Neighbor witnessed firsthand the kind of confusion and mechanical failure that
afflicted American troops in the deadly first hours of D-Day, June 6, 1944. First, he and
his buddies were dropped off at the wrong section of beach. Then, assigned to carry an
extra fuel tank for a flamethrower, Neighbor was forced to take over the weapon when
his partner was hit in the shoulder soon after disembarking on the beach. Neighbor was
unable to light it, and so never once used the weapon on which he had trained for months.
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