Chartering Board Member Shares Stories of WWII

Copyright permission by: Portland Press Herald

Article Date: Thursday, June 7, 2009

By ELBERT AULL
 
LEBANON — His friends called him "Saint" back then. He was 23.

More than six decades later, Florien St. Arnault still remembers the gunfire, the mines, the artillery shells – the chaos of the day that turned the tide of World War II in Europe.

"It was hell on earth, and I lost some buddies," said St. Arnault, 87, of Lebanon.

Like St. Arnault, Fred Hall landed at Omaha Beach on D-Day. Hall, a 23-year-old Army captain at the time, hit the beach with the second wave of the invasion.

His landing craft had veered off course, his men were in the wrong place and the German 352nd Infantry Division – dug in along the bluffs at the edge of the beach – was merciless.

"There were 32 people on my landing craft; 14 reached the beach," said Hall, 88, of Rochester, N.H.

Today is the 65th anniversary of D-Day, when 160,000 Allied troops surged across the English Channel and stormed the beaches at Normandy.

On that day, German forces occupied nearly all of Europe. The Allies took it back in 11 months, and many historians view the successful invasion as the turning point of the war in Europe.

Hall and St. Arnault are scheduled to share their D-Day experiences with the public during "A Witness to History Event" at 10 a.m. today at the Hanson School on Upper Guinea Road in Lebanon. The local American Legion post organized the free event, part of a race against the clock to capture the stories of local veterans.

"We feel like it's important to hurry up and try to highlight our World War II and Korean War veterans," said Stephen White, commander of Post 214.

White was not the only organizer feeling some urgency to capture the memories of D-Day participants this year.

The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that of the 16 million American World War II veterans, 2 million remain. Experts estimate that of about 73,000 Americans who stormed the beaches or parachuted into France on D-Day, fewer than 10,000 are still alive.

Officials at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, which will mark the anniversary with an afternoon ceremony, said it is getting tougher to track down invasion participants, most of whom are now in their mid- to late 80s.

Spokeswoman Kacey Hill said that "it was significantly harder than ever for us to find D-Day vets for interviews and programs" this year.

White said he hopes his event will draw hundreds. He said he plans to shoot video of Hall and St. Arnault as they share stories with the audience, and then post clips on YouTube.

The two D-Day veterans have much to share.

Hall was an officer in the Army's 1st Infantry Division, which saw action in North Africa and Sicily before D-Day and is commonly called "The Big Red One."

St. Arnault was a private first class in the Army, part of a 15-man team that operated a Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft gun.

Both vividly recall being pinned down by enemy fire on the beach at Normandy in a panorama of explosions and gunfire.

"The best word is 'confusion,"' Hall said, describing what it was like on the beach.

St. Arnault nodded in agreement during an interview Thursday at Lebanon Town Hall.

Hall said machine guns from a well-placed pillbox rained fire on his men as they tried in vain to punch a hole in the German defense.

"It was a bad scene," he said.

An Allied destroyer finally gave his men room to advance, Hall said. The ship cruised by, parallel to the beach, and its guns destroyed the bunker.

St. Arnault was part of the invasion's fourth wave that landed at Omaha Beach later in the day. The fighting was still intense when he arrived.

He passed by a soldier who had his leg blown off. He recalled wanting to help, but knowing, with bullets whizzing by, that it was no use.

Mines, artillery shells, explosions. Everywhere, it was "horrendous," St. Arnault said. But everyone who could... kept moving forward.

"I've never seen such bravery in my life," he said.

Hall was never wounded and was serving with the 1st Infantry Division in Czechoslovakia when Germany surrendered in May 1945. He retired from the Army as a lieutenant colonel in 1965, and worked as a lawyer in civilian life.

St. Arnault contracted pneumonia and was headed home on a transport ship when he learned that the Allies had taken Europe. He left the service after the war and became a metalworker, building aircraft.

The irony of that civilian work is not lost on him.

"During the war, I was shooting them down," St. Arnault said with a laugh.

Hall said he hopes the public knows that bravery during World War II didn't come and go on June 6, 1944.

"There were a lot of D-Days in World War II," he said.

Hall ticked off a list of crucial battles and theaters – North Africa, the Pacific – as St. Arnault nodded again.

"People should remember," Hall said.