r

“I can’t tell the dead from the wounded,” Miller said.

Along the sea wall, soldiers turned their faces toward Miller
They had made men of themselves, crossing that bloody beach.
But now they were boys again , and in the safety of the shelter
they allowed their fear to show.
Miller looked at these scared kids, some crying . “Who’s in
command up here?” he asked .
There were two answers to that question: machine-gun fire from
above said that the Germans were in command. But several of the
young privates shouted die other answer: “You are! You are, sir!”
Miller looked at Sarge. “ I was afraid of that,” he whispered .
“Don’t get killed,” Sarge whispered back , “or I’ll be in
command.”
“We don’t want that,” Miller said, smiling. “Do you recognize
where we are? ”
“About two kilometers from where we re supposed to be? ”
Hearing this , a soldier down the sea wall called out, “ Nobody’s
where they’re supposed to be!”
A private next to Sarge added, “ He’s right, sir, we’re all mixed
up.”
Miller surveyed this mix of men from different companies.
Knowing that their sea-wall shelter was only a temporary stop, he
repeated to himself, “J ims afraid of that .”

Chapter 4 On the Beach

Miller and Sarge walked along the sea wall, looking for their
—
men. Private Robert Reiben twenty-four, Brooklyn , New
—
York raced in from the beach and threw himself against the sea
wall between his captain and sergeant .
Sarge asked him, “ Have you seen anybody else from the
company?”

12
 “Jackson ,” Reiben said . The sharpshooter, his rifle in his hand ,
had reached the wall . “But that’s all.”
“Mellish, here, sir!” a voice called from the other direction.
“ Caparzo, too, sir! ” another voice called from the same
direction .
Miller leaned out just far enough to see them; then he pulled
back as Caparzo’s voice continued: “Wade’s back there with
DeForest.”
“Where is Wade ?” Miller called back .
“ Out there on the beach,” Caparzo shouted, “ trying to save
DeForest.”
Finally Miller saw the company medic, Corporal Edward
—
Wade San Diego, California, at twenty-eight one of the oldest
of the captain’s boys. He was kneeling over Private Brian
— —
DeForest- twenty-one, DeKalb, Illinois trying to save him,
even though he had a huge chest wound. Wade was bloody up to
his elbows . He ignored a senior medical officer’s orders to move
onto the next wounded soldier, insisting, “ He ’s not gone, sir ,” As
men dropped around him in the killing zone, Wade calmly piled
the dead bodies to give him cover. Then he continued working
on his friend.
“Wade!” Miller called from the sea wall. “ Wade! Wade!”
— —
But Wade didn’t hear or maybe ignored his captain.
—
Miller shouted , “Mellish Caparzo . . . get Wade off that
beach! We’re not losing our medic ! ”
Machine-gun fire hit the piled bodies, but Wade kept working
on his friend. Then a bullet passed through one of the bodies and
hit DeForest in the side of the head, killing him.
Just then Caparzo and Mellish reached Wade. They dragged
him off the beach to the sea wall.
Miller turned to Sarge. “ That’s it ? That’s all of us? ”
“ Maybe not, sir. We got separated . There are probably more of
us somewhere around here.”

13

L
 “ Not enough . Not enough.” He was thinkmg of the landing
boat and how he had sent his boys out into the machine-gun fire.
But the sound of mortars reminded him that there wasn’t time
for thinking.
“Where’s our exit ? ” he asked Sarge.
“ The gap in the cliffs on the right.”
“Gather weapons!” Miller announced. “Whatever you have,
whatever you can find! Drag them in off the sand if you have to!
Those weapons aren’t doing anybody any good out there! ”
His order was passed up and down the sea wall. The men
seemed excited by the idea of taking action . They were tired of
sitting along the sea wall, waiting for bullets or an exploding
mortar to get them. They went out to the beach and picked up
all the guns, rifles, and other weapons they could find.
Miller looked at the wire on top of the sea wall. “ We’ll need
pipe bombs to blow a hole in that and explode any mines in the
ground nearby,” he said. “Where are the engineers?”
The men returned with their weapons and gathered around
the captain and sergeant.
“I’m impressed,” Miller admitted with a tiny smile.
Two engineer sergeants arrived and began pushing explosives
into pipes and laying them in a fine along the beach to the top of
the sea wall. Others began cleaning the sand out of weapons and
checking that they worked. Miller saw Mellish and Caparzo
grinning as they cleaned a newly acquired machine gun. Most of
the men were strangers to Miller, but he loved them as much as
the two children waiting for him at home.
While Miller watched the men, Wade came up beside him.
“Good to see you, sir,” Wade said quietly.
“ Good to be seen,” Miller admitted, glad that Wade had joined
them again.
One of the engineers signaled: the explosive-stuffed pipe line
was ready. “Fire!” Sarge shouted, and the soldiers took cover. The

14
 explosion was just one more noise. When the smoke and dust
cleared, a wide gap in the wire provided an exit from the bloody
beach.
“ All right! ” Sarge shouted. “ Let’s go through that hole! ”
Miller lifted himself up the sea wall and crawled through the
—
gap. A dozen men including Reiben, Mellish , Caparzo, Wade,
—
and Sarge were right behind him. They raced to the beach area
beyond , where there were patches of high grass and trenches .
But the fire of the German machine guns changed direction
to follow the runners and to stop others from coming through
the gap in the wire. Three men were killed. This discouraged
some , but others ran forward, following Miller and his men.
As they started up the slope, staying in the cover of the
-
trenches , the machine gun fire stopped. It was strangely silent.
The soldiers divided into little groups, keeping low, and went up
the hill.
A group of five soldiers in the trench ahead of Reiben had
stopped before a turn they couldn’t see around; then they looked
at each other and went around the corner anyway. The firing
began again, and two of the men hurried back. The rest of the
group stopped and watched as German grenades came from
around the bend.
“ This way! This way! ” Miller called.
Miller ran up a deep trench , and the others followed his
confident lead . Ahead of Miller, three privates went around a
corner. Suddenly the thunder of exploding land mines warned
Miller to stop. He looked around the corner and saw that two of
the soldiers were dead and the third stood motionless, trapped in
a mine field.
Then came an unexpected sound: whistling, human whistling
that sounded like someone calling a pet. A voice followed, “ Fritz!
Fritz!” It was a German voice.
Soon a dog ran through the passage behind them, surprising

15

i
Miller and his men. They grinned as the dog passed them . The
animal took a pathway away from the trench, and Miller saw a
gray-coated, helmeted man run horn behind a turn in the path .
The man took the barking dog into his arms and pulled the
—
animal to safety around the corner, out of sight.
Miller thought about the soldier who loved his dog . But this
thought was interrupted when the German soldier reappeared .
He aimed his rifle, and shot the trapped American in the head.
Then the German was gone.
Miller paused on the path, but no one commented on the
killing. Some things are too terrible to mention, and they knew
that, in the German ’s place, they might have done the same.
“We’re dead!” a boy behind him said in a frightened voice.
“ All the exits are mined!”
Sarge quietly said to Miller, “ It wasn’t easy getting here, sir, but
getting out ’s going to be even harder.”
—
Miller turned and smiled at his boys a smile that he hoped
—
looked confident and said, “ That dog, Fritz, knew the way out.”
Meflish , chewing gum nervously, said, “Do you think that dog
knows where the mines are? ”
“That dog is with the German personnel,” Miller said, “ and
they travel up and down these trenches every day, don’t they?”
Then Miller ran up the pathway Fritz had taken . His men
followed him. They had gone a good distance up the sloping
trench when their captain raised his hand for them to halt .
The pathway was rising to a gap in the walls at the end of the
trench . The soldiers could see across the slope to a rock pile
about ten meters ahead . It looked good. But the sound of
machine guns and rifles shooting at the beach had increased in
volume, and the sound of mortars was close, too. Running
across that gap might put Miller and his men in sight of the
Germans.
“We’re at a bad angle ; we can ’t see what’s ahead,” Sarge said as

16
 the group gathered within the walls of the trench. “ We won’t
know what ’s up there until we put our heads out .”
“ Who has a mirror ? ” Miller asked , and one was passed to him.
He looked at Mellish and said, “ Give me your gum.”
He took the gum, put it on the tip of his rifle, and stuck the
mirror to the gum . Then, as his men grinned and nodded around
him, the captain held the rifle out , just enough to get a view. He
saw a cliff overlooking the beach about twenty meters beyond
their position, but it was between their trench and the protective
rock pile. On the cliff, seven meters above them, were two
machine-gun teams, shooting down at the beach. Other
Germans were throwing mortars, and another small group of
soldiers was guarding the position . Pulling the mirror back in ,
Miller reported to his men.
Sarge nodded toward the rock pile. “ There’s our perfect firing
position , but it’s not going to be easy to get there.”
“ Let’s get ready to go,” Miller said. He turned to the four
soldiers nearest him and nodded to each.
“When they go, we’ll shoot to cover them. It’ll get the
Germans’ attention and keep them busy.”
All nodded .
“ Those machine guns are heavy,” Miller told the four boys .
“ The Germans won’t be able to move them around quickly. The
soldiers up there will shoot at you. Run left and right, not in a
straight line. Stay apart. Understand ?”
Four young faces looked at him and nodded,
“ Then go!”
The four boys raced into the open area. Miller and the others
sent a storm of bullets toward the German position . Shots were
returned, but they weren’t directed at the trench. That could
only mean that the Germans were firing down on the open area
where the boys had run.
When the shooting stopped , Miller called out, “Report in!”

17

1
 r
Silence.
The captain ran out for a quick look . The bodies of the four
boys were on the ground. Miller dove back, as rifle shots
narrowly missed him.
Miller looked at the men who remained and selected three
more boys. Sarge looked at him with an expression that showed
Miller the craziness of what they were doing. He stopped and
considered his options for a moment . Then he said to
sharpshooter Jackson, “ Are you ready to go across?”
“ I’m ready, sir.”
Miller ran into the open area and stood there, making a perfect
target. Up on the cliff, one of the machine-gun teams began
turning their heavy weapon.
“ Go!” Miller shouted.
Jackson ran through the open space as the machine-gun fire
turned toward Miller. The captain dove back into the trench, as
machine-gun bullets took the heel off his boot. Jackson was
running left and right, avoiding the bullets as he neared the rock
pile.
Miller called out: “Report!”
Jackson’s voice replied : “ Here!”
The men in the trench smiled. Suddenly machine-gun fire
started again, and the men threw themselves down and screamed.
But Miller knew that Jackson would not be discouraged.
Jackson had his rifle aimed at a German machine gunner and
was softly praying.
—
The captain called, “Jackson -do you have a shot ? ”
Jackson called back, “Send over a group!”
The sharpshooter shot , and the German machine gun stopped
firing. A bullet had gone through the machine gunner’s head.
Down in the trench, Sarge was saying, “We can do it!”
Groups of Americans raced across the open area to the rock
pile. Then everybody joined in Miller’s wild cry as he led his

18
T
!

boys out from behind the rock pile and up the steep slope.
The battle was fierce and short . Miller and his boys took the
German position . A few Americans were killed , but all of the
Germans went down.
“ To their bunker!’’ Miller shouted.
Machine-gun and rifle fire came from the bunker as the boys
raced to it. Two boys went down, but the rest were too fast to get
hit .
“ Grenades,” Miller said. They threw their grenades through
the opening in the bunker. The boys fell and covered themselves
as fire from the bunker followed .
“ Let them have it!” Miller shouted, getting to his feet. He shot
through the opening, and his boys did, too.
When the shooting was over, Miller walked across the
blackened cliff , He was alive. He had never expected to get off
the beach.
They all shared this feeling, but no one spoke. There were no
words to express what they felt . They were here, and they were
alive. That was enough .
Miller joined the sergeant, who was standing at the edge of
the cliff.
“What a view,” Sarge said .
On the horizon an endless row of ships watched silently as
landing boat after landing boat pushed through the dead bodies,
moving toward the beach . Seasick soldiers ran through the
shallow water onto the sand . They took cover behind the steel
crosses and then ran through the smoke and fallen bodies toward
the safety of the sea wall.
Shells continued to explode in the water and on shore. But still
the American soldiers came. Nothing could stop their advance.
It was a terrible landscape of horror and death . And a
magnificent statement about the courage of the men fighting and
dying there.

19
 “ What a view,” Miller agreed.
Helmets, damaged radios, wire, weapons, and bodies lay on the
sand. Written on the backpack of one of the dead soldiers was a
last name: RYAN.
But, of course, from where he stood, Miller couldn ’t see that.

20