Roy Rolig 187th Signal Repair Company, Army SPECIAL

''The bodies were stacked like cordwood,'' he recalled. ''That was terrible. It was a horrible thing to see. ... all these dead people.

''Those that were still alive were liberated. Of course, those that were dead ... were dead.''

Mr. Rolig's entry into World War II came at Normandy and Utah Beach. He arrived after the initial D-Day invasion, but watched as battle raged on in the distance.

''It was like a big Fourth of July ... There were buzz bombs and all sorts of stuff that the Germans were shooting,'' the 81-year-old said. ''It was like a big fireworks show, very dangerous.''

Once on the beach, all that remained was carnage.

''See, the Germans had it made,'' he said. ''Where we had landed they had these huge bunkers, with huge guns pointed down at us. These bunkers were four feet of cement.''

Burned-out tanks littered the beachhead. Hundreds of dead German soldiers were piled atop one another.

''I didn't have a whole lot of reaction except that it was all Germans, the enemy,'' Mr. Rolig said. ''We were young; it didn't bother us that much.''

Veteran Roy Rolig CHRIS THELEN/STAFF

A native of Minnesota, Mr. Rolig was drafted into the Army in 1942. He trained at Fort DuPont, Del., and was assigned to the 187th Signal Repair Company, part of Gen. George S. Patton's 4th Armored Division.

''It was all tanks and motorized equipment,'' Mr. Rolig said. ''We didn't have it too bad for quite a while.''

Mr. Rolig said Patton's tanks, surrounding the infantrymen and the signal company, moved through France and Germany into Belgium and the Battle of the Bulge.

''We didn't see a whole lot ... we heard a whole lot,'' Mr. Rolig said. ''There was all kinds of tanks and artillery. That was going on constantly, and small arms fire, too.''

After the war, Mr. Rolig returned to his hometown of Cloquet, Minn., and went to work for a radio repair shop. Later he rejoined the military and served until 1968. After his military career he got a job with Sears. He retired from the company in 1980.

Today, Mr. Rolig and his friends from the 187th Signal Repair Company stay in touch and sometimes get together.

''I think about it maybe once a week,'' he said of his war memories. ''I'm not one that goes around talking about battles.

''We had to do it.''

Reach Josh Gelinas at (706)823-3218.