World War II was a time in history that many people have a difficult time envisioning. It was a moment in history that certainly was not to be repeated and many people that lived during that time had a story to tell.
Unfortunately, many of those individuals who had a story to tell were not able to tell it prior to the time that they died. Some of them died in the war and others have died due to advanced age. Every once in a while, however, we get the opportunity to hear a story and it really touches our hearts.
That is what Sam Elliott was able to do. He passed along the story that was told by Sgt. Ray Lambert during the 2019 national Memorial day concert. It was a story about the struggles he had as he stormed a beach during WWII and it tells a story that many of us hope we never have to see in real life.
You can read his story below and then watch Sam Elliott give it in the video at the bottom of this page.
It was total confusion. Shells exploding, boats blowing up, people yelling because they couldn’t hear anything, machine gun bullets hitting the water all around you, the roar of the boats coming in. It’s like you’re all alone in the world of a million people because you’re concentrating on what you have to do.
I just kept going. I was thinking of only one thing — getting to the men who needed me.
You did the job you were trained to do. If you didn’t, you died.
People who have never been in a war should understand what soldiers give up. The guys we left on Omaha Beach never had a chance to live the lives they dreamed of. A day hasn’t gone by when I haven’t prayed for the men we lost and their families. I still wake up at night sometimes thinking about the guys. Every man that walked into those machine guns and that artillery fire on Omaha Beach that day — every man — was a hero. What kind of person would I be if I didn’t tell their stories?