A.K. “Doc” Wilson of Washington, W.Va., a veteran of D-Day, talks with the Parkersburg News and Sentinel in 2019. Wilson served in the U.S. Navy during the huge military operation, carrying British troops to land in an amphibious craft on Gold Beach on the Normandy coast June 6, 1944. Wilson died peacefully, at the age of 98, at Inspira Medical Center, Mullica Hill, N.J., on June 16, 2023. (File Photo)

PARKERSBURG — “You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you,” Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force General Dwight D. Eisenhower said to Allied forces on the eve of D-Day, the first day of the invasion of Normandy.

“Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle hardened. He will fight savagely. … I have full confidence in your courage and devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory!”

The invasion of mainland France during World War II, codenamed “Operation Overlord,” took place on June 6, 1944, and saw a combined force of 160,000 British, American and Canadian troops land across a 50-mile stretch of Normandy coastline on five beaches: Sword, Juno, Gold, Omaha, and Utah. It remains the biggest amphibious operation in military history.

A.K. “Doc” Wilson of Washington, W.Va., was among those service members participating in D-Day. He was assigned to the Navy’s amphibious force and trained as a gunner’s mate for a 40mm gun on an LST (landing ship tank) designed to carry troops, vehicles and equipment to shore without the need for docks or piers. He talked to the News and Sentinel in 2019 about his experience.

“Frankly, I’ve put the biggest part of that behind me but it was an awesome day. You couldn’t believe the ships that were in that channel, you could almost walk across it. Airplanes flew overhead, roar after roar of them, and of course the big guns of the battleships and cruisers as they were pounding away at the shore,” he said. “As everybody knows and has seen many times over and over, it was an awesome day.”

Wilson said he can’t recall how long his LST spent on Gold Beach or how many trips they might have made, but he can remember going back to their base at some point. He doesn’t recall any personal close calls during that period.

“We made it when so many boys didn’t. We lost a lot of comrades in arms that day,” Wilson said in 2019. “”That’s one that’s bothered me sometimes. I just feel the Lord has been with me all of the way, but I know very well he was with the boys that we left there on the beach, too. I feel a little guilty when I say that because I know they were as much in His mind as I was but I was one of the fortunate ones. Bad things do happen and I just happened to be one of them that did make it through.”

Wilson died peacefully, at the age of 98, at Inspira Medical Center, Mullica Hill, N.J., on June 16, 2023.

Delbert “Deb” Weber, from Marietta, was a staff sergeant in the Army as part of the 603rd Engineer Division, 23rd Headquarters Special Forces known as the “Ghost Army.”

“Say the 82nd tank division was here, but we wanted the Germans to think they were over here. The tank division would pull out in the middle of the night and we pull in in the middle of the night. We’d set up dummy tanks, add flash powder, add noise and amplifier booms. We were top secret. We carried no ID,” Weber told the Marietta Times in 2019.

He said he clearly remembered D-Day from his division’s placement in France.

“I remember seeing all the airplanes going over, making a circle, dropping bombs,” he said. “I saw the bombs come out from the bottom of the airplane, they wiggled and then all the sudden straightened out.”

He said he also remembered seeing the battleships firing to support the landings.

“First you’d see the black smoke, then you’d hear the sound, then you’d see the ship move,” he recalled.

Although he didn’t have to hit the beach on D-Day, he was waiting offshore near Omaha Beach.

In May 2020, he celebrated his 100th birthday on May 15 with a party and a parade, with the Mayor of Marietta declaring his birthday as Delbert Weber Day. He passed away on Nov. 26, 2020, at his home in Elmcroft of Marietta.

Marietta resident Carol O’Grady’s father, the late Robert Doan, was among the U.S. Army troops who fought their way across the beaches and onto the French mainland and talked to the Times in 2014.

“He really didn’t talk much about the D-Day invasion on the beach at Normandy,” she said. “But here was a man who came from the little village of New Matamoras who was there for his country.”

O’Grady said her father, who died in 2012, often said he was still pretty “wet behind the ears” when he took part in the invasion.

“But they gave their all for our freedom, and they were more than willing to do it,” she said. “And we need to remember what they did so the world doesn’t repeat mistakes of the past. We need to keep these memories alive.”

Holly Dale Eagle Jr., “June” of Mt. Zion, was with the 82nd Airborne and jumped into France in advance of the main invasion on D-Day. Injuries prevented him from further jumps, so he was assigned to the 35th Infantry Division. He fought with them until being wounded a second time at the Rhine River.

“They tell me I’m an American hero. I gave some,” he told the News and Sentinel in 2013. “Those boys over there under those white crosses are the American heroes. They gave everything.”

He was awarded the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, the Good Conduct Medal, a Presidential Unit Citation, the American Campaign Medal, the European-African-Middle East Campaign Medal with three bronze stars, the Combat Infantryman Badge, an Honorable Service Badge and Expert Badge.

Allied casualties were documented for at least 10,000, with 4,414 confirmed dead. American forces isolated and captured Cherbourg, France, by June 27, 1944, while British forces secured Caen by July 9. Despite these victories, progress was slow. On July 24-25, American forces launched Operation Cobra, breaking through German lines near Saint-Lo. This marked the end of the Normandy Campaign and the beginning of the Allied push to liberate northern France and Paris.