D-Day Plus 1, D-Day Plus 2...: Experiencing War: Veterans History Project (Library of Congress

Experiencing War (D-Day 60th Anniversary, June 6, 1944 - 2004): Stories from the Veterans History Project

It was military shorthand for the date one landed in Normandy. After the first wave of troops came ashore, thousands and thousands more followed, each man well aware of the sacrifices his comrades had made on June 6. The physical evidence was inescapable, but the sense of mission never diminished, no matter how long afterwards your ship pulled in and you stepped onto French soil.

"You're loaded with ammunition, so one little stray bullet in a gas can and away you go."

Arriving on Omaha Beach on June 8, D-Day Plus 2, had its own dangers for John Sudyk. For starters, the water was thick with jellyfish, and the boat nearly hit a mine. Sudyk’s LST was transporting the 18th Field Artillery Battalion, who were to help the First Army blast its way through the German defenses. That also meant that Sudyk and his men offered a more inviting target as they disembarked. The 18th soon found itself working with General Patton’s Third Army and saw action in nearly every major engagement in the last 11 months of the war in Europe.