I had the honor and privilege of meeting a genuine hero yesterday, a fellow vet named Raymond Woods. Ray was in the Navy, serving aboard the USS O’Brien, a destroyer, on D-Day. The O’Brien was assigned to a patrol area a little distance from the actual landings.
The Captain of his ship become more and more infuriated as he heard the calls for help from the men pinned down on the beach by the murderous machine gun fire being rained down on the Allied forces from the German pillboxes and bunkers.
Realizing that no one seemed to reacting to their pleas, the Captain disobeyed his orders and left his ship’s assigned patrol area to render what assistance he could.
He brought the O’Brien within 4000 yards of the beach and began shelling the German emplacements with his ship’s 5-inch guns. From the men on the beach he discovered the German machine gun fire was being directed to their targets from a communications tunnel. He fired on the tunnel, destroying it, and giving the men on the beach a chance to clamber up the steep cliffs and eventually take the beachhead.
For years no one knew what this brave ship, it’s Captain and crew did because the Captain did not file an after-action report (he was disobeying his orders after all.) I firmly believe that if not for the brave actions of this Captain, ship & crew the assault might have failed. It would certainly have resulted in much higher casualties.
Now, you could debate all day why this ship & crew did what they did. Did they do it for love of country? Because they were patriots? What drove them to this incredible act of courage? I believe it was simply that their fellow countrymen were in mortal danger, and they simply could not stand by and not do something.
This is just a small example of the bravery of our Armed Forces and Allies on that day. The men who survived went on to rid Europe of Hitler’s evil tyranny.
That is what we are celebrating on D-Day.