American Valor Quarterly Issue 6 - Spring/Summer 2009 | Page 14

Omaha Beach
The First Wave
By Harley A. Reynolds
I enlisted in the U.S. Army on December 28, 1940 and was assigned to Co. B, 16th Infantry, Regiment, First Infantry Division
stationed at Fort Jay, New York. I served with this unit until
honorably discharged on July 4th, 1945 at Fort Meade, Maryland
during demobilization after victory in Germany. Mustered out on
a point system, I had the highest number of points for a single
man in England when the war ended. A group of 17 men with the
highest points were sent home to test the mustering out system
and I was in charge of our service records that we carried with
us. I had achieved the rank of staff sergeant by the time of the
invasion of France, and this was the highest rank I would hold.

November 1943 to the middle of May 1944. By this time I had
become a staff sergeant and commanded the light machine gun
section. Each position I held from first ammo carrier to assistant
gunner, to gunner to squad leader, and then to section leader was
because the men ahead of me were either wounded or killed and
I took over...What made me so lucky?
D-Day : 6 June 1944

Time came for the invasion and we went aboard the troop ship
Samuel Chase at Weymouth, England. We sailed immediately for
dispersal and position within the invading fleet. The plan was for
In 1941, our entire division was transferred to Fort Devons, Mas- our battalion to land in Regimental Reserve on Omaha Beach in
sachusetts, where we staged a mock invasion at Buzzards Bay, the Easy Red Sector.
near Cape Cod, long before we got into the war. From there we
went on to Camp Blanding, Fort Benning, and Fort Indiantown This would be our second invasion from the Samuel Chase. The
Gap, before making our way back to New York to prepare for first was at Gela in Sicily. She also made the African invasion
alongside us. Many friendships were made then, and later through
deployment overseas.
our division and ship associations, which are still active. I am an
From the port of New York City, the entire division, approximately honorary member of their association, a fine brave and proud
16,000 men, boarded the Queen Mary and set sail on August 2, group.
1942 for Glasgow, Scotland. From there, we traveled by train to
Tidworth Barracks near Amesbury, England. Here we prepared for We left the Chase for the last time and went in single file to our
Operation Torch – the invasion of Africa. We would also make the rendezvous area, following the little light on the stern of the
invasion of Sicily before returning to England to train for the inva- craft ahead of us. The light would disappear and then reappear
as we rose and fell with the waves. The water was getting rough.
sion of France on what would become known as D-Day.
From Sicily, we returned to England and were stationed in the I thought several times we would crash into the craft ahead as we
small town of Lyme Regis, near Torquay. We stayed here from came upon them and would have to back off. I could see the trail

National Archives

AMERICAN VALOR QUARTERLY - Spring/Summer 2009 - 15