Harold Himmelsbach D - Day

[caappy]

Harold Himmelsbach, 93, of El Dorado Hills, California, described D-Day to ABC News as “the most dramatic time” in his life.

“I remember best and saw things that very few people would ever see. And I saw it all. And I still remember these things,” said Himmelsbach, who was born and grew up in Yakima, Washington. “It was dramatic … I would see other guys die within feet of me.”

Himmelsbach, who served in the 123rd Quartermaster Truck Company Aviation, said that troops had been training for D-Day but just didn’t know when it would occur.

“Everybody knew what we were doing. We were gonna go and defeat the Germans,” he said.

On June 6, 1944, he and his unit were awakened at 3 a.m., ate breakfast on their ship and then told to get their gear.

“All of a sudden, I’m out on the deck, when the first explosions took place. So I had no gear on or anything else. I was just — didn’t even had my helmet on,” he said. “All of a sudden, this explosion took place right next to us … And it just, of course, was a shock, obviously. And it, it just, all of a sudden, water came up over my head and, and washed over the top of us and everything. I was knocked around and down … It was a tremendous jolt because it was actually tearing parts of the ship open … The second was more violent. That was a powerful explosion, the second one. And that’s why it did so much damage … I remember I had to pick up one guy’s head, you know, ’cause he had been cut and so forth. And you almost took it as the reality of where you were. In other words, you knew you had to do these things.”

Himmelsbach was just 18 years old. After the invasion, he was assigned to the 110th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division. He fought and served in D-Day, Normandy, Belgium, Germany and the Rhine River. He returned to Normandy for the 45th and 50th anniversaries.



https://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/world- ... y-63462928


Sent him 2 photos on 4 Jun and got them back signed 11 Jul... He signed them on the back of the photo.. He also put C Company, 110 Inf Reg, 28 Inf Div United State of American... and he drew a little picture in the shape of the division patch for the 28th.

Mr Harold Himmelsback
1535 Barcelona Dr
El Dorado Hills, CA 95762

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