Survivors of D-Day invasion in Normandy: “We must never forget”

More than seven decades after the D-Day invasion of Normandy, France, two local World War II veterans can still see the destruction and lives lost in one of the largest amphibious assaults in military history.

Charlie Maupin, 97, and Jim Wooters, 94, both of Columbus, didn’t know each other at the time but they were only a couple of miles apart on different ships in the English channel on the morning of June 6, 1944.

“When I landed, I saw rows and rows of bodies covered on the beach,” said Maupin, who was delayed before going ashore on June 7, 1944, with the 175th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division. “They died for the cause of freedom. We must never forget. “

Wooters served on the USS Arkansas with 1,200 sailors, and most thought they wouldn’t survive the pounding by the German guns. “We knew that we were going to be hit and we didn’t think we would come out of it,” he said. “When you know you’re going to die, you are no longer afraid. That has stuck with me over the years since Normandy.”

As the nation observes the 73rd anniversary of the D-Day invasion that gave Allied forces a foothold to march across Europe, Maupin and Wooters will gather for a 2 p.m. ceremony Tuesday in the dining room of Covenant Woods where they live across the hall from one another at the assisted living facility. They will talk about their World War II service and there will be special songs played, said Nona Christie, a marketing spokeswoman. The public is invited.

The invasion sent 156,000 Allied troops into battle along a 50-mile stretch of heavily defended coastline. Called Operation Overlord, the invasion left 2,499 Americans and 1,915 Allied troops dead on what was described as “The Longest Day.”

Wooters said the USS Arkansas was anchored more than two miles from Omaha Beach, the most heavily defended of five major locations that also included the beaches of Utah, Gold, Juno and Sword. The first wave of American troops landed at 6:30 a.m. on Utah and Omaha, while the British and Canadian forces landed on Gold, Juno and Sword.

“It was rough, there is no doubt about it,” Wooters said. “The troops were bogged down on the beach and there is a 20-foot tide there. That was the first thing they announced. The invasion would be in an area with a 20-foot tide.”

Troops faced heavy machine gun fire from enemy forces in the high bluffs above the beaches, and obstacles were scattered across the beaches to halt the assault at the water’s edge.

Maupin said Lt. Gen. Omar Bradley, the U.S. commander of the First Army, thought about pulling troops off Omaha beach because of the difficulty. “But perseverance won the day,” he said. “We finally made it but so many lives were lost. It was a high price but those men who gave their lives gave all for freedom. We never know freedom but we know what they did and the freedom they gained for millions of people.”

Wooters said the invasion was halted briefly until the admiral sent destroyers to the beach and ordered gunfire on bunkers and pillboxes on the beaches. Enemy soldiers would pop up and spray the troops on the beach before disappearing. “That was hard to knock out, those pillboxes,” he said. “That is what led the invasion to break through. It got them off the beach.”

The USS Arkansas fired its big 12-inch guns on Sword beach and he heard the results from a Canadian sergeant later. “The Canadian sergeant said we had a direct hit,” Wooters said. “What didn’t go flying went running. We scared the devil out of them. Imagine saying, ‘We scared the devil out of them.’ We became the devil ship. When they wanted fire again, they asked for the devil ship.”

Although his ship was fired on and bombed, Wooters said it never took a direct hit during the two weeks in the channel. Radio broadcasts in the area said the devil ship would be sunk and was going to the bottom of the sea.

“It was kind of funny,” Wooters said. “ It didn’t get hit a single time during the war and it was at the major invasion.”

This story was originally published June 5, 2017 at 4:38 PM with the headline "Survivors of D-Day invasion in Normandy: “We must never forget”."