Greatest Generation, July 4

Paul Melville McCollum

Age: 99

Town: Omaha

Service: Army captain

In the war: He was at Omaha Beach on D-Day.

In his words: “We loaded on the ship in England on Sunday, June 4, to be ready to sail that night. My ship was an LST, a pretty big ship, with two decks and an elevator carrying small tanks, anti-aircraft guns, trucks, supplies and troops. We sailed at dusk, but after a couple of hours out in the channel, orders came from Gen. Eisenhower to turn back, as the weather had deteriorated. We remained on the ship all day Monday, June 5, and when the weather improved, we again set sail Monday evening.

“The English Channel was full of ships of all kinds. Thousands of our planes kept flying over us all night long to bomb German targets in Normandy. It was still dark when, about 4 a.m., we were seven to 10 miles off the coast of Normandy. We could see shells bursting from Navy warships, and flame-throwing craft throwing fire onto the beach, and bombs dropping from our planes on the high ground above the beach. Two ‘Rhino' ferries pulled up to our ship. These were immense, flat boats made from strapping hollow steel boxes. Each Rhino was powered by two large outboard motors. Our ship had a big ramp that could be let down onto the Rhino for transferring our cargo. The two Rhinos took all our cargo. Imagine drivers pulling their trucks, guns and tanks onto those Rhinos, within a foot of the edge, no railings or curbs, out in the middle of a not-too-calm English Channel.

“The schedule was for us to land on Omaha Beach at 6 a.m. With daylight, there were many combat units already ahead of us. So when we got to the beach, we could see what had happened. Our bombing and shelling had not been as effective as expected. There was still a lot of fire coming down from German strong points above the beach. Wrecked landing craft, tanks, gun and trucks littered the beach. Dead and wounded were strewn on the sand, the living trying to dig in. Ammunition exploding and fires were burning. Engineers were blowing up beach hazards so more troops and equipment could land.

“I was saved again. Beach officials decided that our equipment and supplies were less essential immediately than other ships coming in, and we were waved back. All day long, June 6, our Rhino floated in front of our Omaha Beach landing area. We had a panoramic view of the fighting that took place. At dusk we were ordered out to sea to attach our Rhino to a big troop carrier. We were allowed to climb the ropes to board it and spend the night in reasonable comfort. It was a bright night. The sea was full of ships as far as one could see, with barrage balloons filling the sky. The Germans made several air attacks, but our anti-air guns prevented any damage that I knew of. Early next morning, we again boarded our Rhino and went onto the beach. There were two draws at Omaha Beach, areas where the ground sloped less steeply to the high ground above. Thus the landings were made at these spots, which were about two miles apart. Our landing was at the eastern draw. Other anti-aircraft units were landing at the western draw.

“My job was to map the location of the guns at our end and carry that information to the group commander at the other end of the beach. Between these two draws, the beach area was narrow and the ground rose steeply to the heights above and was overgrown with vegetation. Most of the activity in this area was from German snipers. I walked that lonely two miles several times that day, carrying information as to our gun positions so that defense could be coordinated.

“By the evening of June 7, our headquarters was bivouacked in an orchard above the beach. I dug a foxhole, and it was cold with nothing but my uniform. I finally crawled out and sneaked through that orchard with moonlight filtering through the trees, hoping there was not a German sniper somewhere, and also hoping that our guards would not take me for a German sniper. I found the truck with my bedroll, covered up in my foxhole and got some sleep. Thus ended my second day.”

Harry C. Sorensen

Age: 87

Town: Omaha

Service: U.S. Army Air Forces

In the war: He enlisted in October 1942 and was an aircraft mechanic with the 9th Air Force, stationed in England from January 1944 until March 1946.

In his words: “I moved around so much, I didn't know what outfit I was in or who my commanding officer was. I was sent all over England, France and Germany. My service records show that from December '44 until December '45, I was assigned to 11 different outfits. What did my crew and I do for the Army Air Corps? We picked up planes from wherever they had crash-landed. We repaired the planes and/or junked them out for parts. One B-26 named ‘Patches' was repaired in the field, and the pilot flew it right out of the pasture. An A-20, the ‘Shoo Shoo Baby,' had to get two new wings and an overhaul while still in the field. After the pilots flew the ‘Shoo Shoo Baby,' they told me it flew better after field repairs than it did in all the bombing missions it had flown.

“I was sent on to the Battle of the Bulge in November and December '44. We had gotten all new A-26s, and the guns came sealed in boxes. I was not given any technical orders for assembly. The CO told me to write my own. We were ordered to destroy the A-26s if the Germans came; we were not to leave anything behind. While able to hear gunfire from the battle only eight miles away, we mounted the guns and readied the planes for the pilots. On Dec. 25, 1944, the sun came out long enough for the planes to fly out of the field. Off they went. ‘Goodbye, Nazis.' This was the beginning of the end of the Battle of the Bulge.

“I have proudly carried my military identification card through civilian duty, active duty, active Reserves and retired military – 67 continuous years.”

Raymond F. Lane

Age: 86

Town: Omaha

Service: U.S. Army Air Forces

In the war: He enlisted in November 1942, had his primary training at Santa Ana, Calif., and basic training at Bakersfield, Calif. He took advanced flight training at Luke Air Force Base near Phoenix, where he received his pilot's wings and was commissioned as a second lieutenant.

In his words: “I signed up for glider pilot for the (D-Day) invasion, but they wanted a third pilot on the B-29s, so I was trained as a flight engineer on B-29s. I was shipped to Okinawa and by then the A-bomb had been dropped. A full colonel wondered why four of us were third pilots on the B-29, since we all had observer's wings (as flight engineers) and pilot's wings. He said something you never hear a higher officer say: ‘What would you like to do?' I said that I chose to be a pilot, so I was assigned to the 301st Fighter Squadron and flew P-47s. I had a couple of emergency landings while flying over Okinawa.